


Phantom Zone

by UnluckyAlis



Series: Phantom Secrets - Original Version [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-06-06 22:14:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6772420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnluckyAlis/pseuds/UnluckyAlis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His family knows, his friends know, and the Ghostleteers know as well. Danny is no longer a phantom alone, and his secret has been shared, but not all of them. After fighting Kraeva, ghosts have become an even bigger part of life in Amity Park, and the GIW are fighting against it. Not only that, but many of his ghostly allies haven't returned.</p><p>This series is being rewritten. Please see Phantom Origins</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Familiar Eyes

Danny frowned at the mirror with an almost disinterested gaze, and the deep red orbs staring back at him. They should have been a bright neon green, but they weren't. He had just gotten used to seeing his ghostly eyes with his human form when they changed again. It had been a gradual process. He would catch his reflection in the mirror and see a light pink ring around his iris. Over time the ring grew wider and darker, edging out the green until all that was left was red.

His eyes didn't flash green anymore either, they hadn't since his first taste of the Ancients' power over a week ago. Instead, if one were to look closely, they could see flecks of green showing in the natural icy blue. A testament to his rising temperament. But at the moment, all Danny could see was red.

He shivered slightly, but not because of the cold. His arm was numb and he casually realized that blood was still dripping down onto his bedroom carpet. There was only one cut, Danny only ever made one cut. But things had been changing recently and he couldn't even feel it unless it was deep. He raised one of his hands to the mirror, smearing his blood across the face of his reflection. Hiding red eyes behind red blood. He still coudln't let the Ghostketeers glimpse his relfection because if they did, then they would know that Danny Fenton wasn't a normal ghost. 

* * *

"Did you hear?"

"What?"

"A GIW operative went missing."

"Really? Which one, and when?"

"Operative K, and it was actually just after Amity was rebuilt."

"But that was three months ago!"

"I know!"

"Any news on the other one?"

"Which one?"

"Not N, the one Kraeva took, I think that guy's gone. The other guy."

"I think his code was H or something, but no one's seen him. Not since he ran away during the fight."

"Coward."

"I know."

"Hey, those three operative, H, K, and N right? They’re the ones that…"

"Yeah, yeah they are…"

The whole school was whispering about it, although walking through the crowded halls filled with noise as they already were, those whispers had turned into shouts and Danny Fenton, with his enhanced hearing, didn’t much like shouts. He stalked through the halls like a predator, and everyone noticed. Those that didn’t know his secret had noticed the way he changed after the Battle of Amity Park. He didn’t wear his baggy clothes anymore, revealing the muscles that most students had seen on the website, Casper High Hotties. It also revealed his scars. Not all of them of course, but the ones from ghost hunting. There was no use hiding it anymore.

Danny Fenton, once the pariah of Casper High, was cool. In fact, all the Ghostketeers were considered cool now, but only three of them had not taken it upon themselves to take advantage of this new status. Danny, Sam, and Morgan remained much the same as they had before. Minus, of course, Danny’s current lethal look.

The students parted willingly for him, stepping to the side of the hall and pressing themselves against the lockers, not wanting Danny’s wrath to be turned on them. When he finally stopped in front of Sam and Tucker, feet firmly planted, everyone expected him to explode. Over what, they weren’t sure, but Danny had stopped and he looked angry, so an explosion appeared to be inevitable. He took a deep breath, and everyone tensed. There was a moment of stillness before anything happened.

BANG!

The students in the hall jumped in surprise as Danny suddenly slammed his head against a locker door.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Danny!" Sam cried out, leaping forwards. She shoved her hand in between Danny’s forehead and his locker, squeezing her eyes shut for the burst of pain that would come. But it didn’t. Instead she felt Danny’s calloused fingers encircling her wrist and pulling her hand out of the predetermined path of his head.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

" _Danny!_ " She shouted, pulling her wrist free of his grasp.

BANG!

Danny stopped, his head pressed against the locker, and his arms fell limp at his sides. Sam was gentle, as if dealing with a wounded animal, and slipped her slender fingers between her boyfriend’s forehead and locker door, pulling him away. Danny tilted back a moment before dropping his head onto her shoulder. A few curious spectators noticed the sizeable dent in Danny’s locker door, about the size of his forehead.

"What happened?" Sam asked, nodding briefly to Tucker. While the techno-geek struggled to open his best friend’s locker, the halfa groaned unintelligibly into Sam’s shoulder before speaking clearly.

"Knocking myself out can substitute for sleep, right?" As Sam draped her arms around Danny’s back, he looped his arms underneath her own and over her shoulder to bury his fingers in his ebony locks.

"No, it actually can’t," Sam scolded, glaring at the students that were still watching the exchange, before continuing more quietly. "When was the last time you slept?"

Danny had to think, really think, in order to answer Sam’s question properly. Things had been hectic, to say the least, since Kraeva’s army was defeated. Amity was restored, and an abundance of students had signed up for Ghostketeer training classes, although only those that had been members during the battle were actually referred to as Ghostketeers. Because of the obvious alliance between humans and ghosts, or at least Danny and ghosts, that had showed through during the fight tensions had relaxed between the two groups. Several of Danny’s less intimidating allies had taken to visiting Amity often, and a few new amicable ghosts had shown their faces as well, but not everything was good. As a result of Kraeva’s attack, the GIW had redoubled their efforts in enforcing the Anti-Ecto Act, especially when it was discovered that three of their operatives were missing. Danny was still the only person, living or dead, to know of Operative N’s fate, and Operative H was suspected of fleeing during the fighting. K's disappearance only recently came to light, although it had happened quite some time ago.

Luckily for Danny, Operative O had been placed in charge of the Amity Park division, and only chose GIW that sympathized with ghosts and understood that they weren’t all evil, or would at least follow orders to capture only specific ghosts. Apparently there were quite a few GIW that were good. But Danny’s rampage during the fight three months ago had hindered his presence on the list of ghosts to be left alone and, orders or not, many GIW would still chase after him if they saw him.

While the GIW patrols were helping, since Danny could now spend more time in class rather than out of it hunting ghosts, it did make things a little harder when a ghost decided to bother him specifically and he had to fight in full view of the white suited agents. The GIW weren’t the only problem. A few of the Amity Park Forces volunteers had opted to keep the ecto-weapons supplied them, in case a dire situation arose again, and had taken it upon themselves to ghost hunt on their own. Even worse, someone had apparently collected many of the dropped weapons during the activity following the battle, and they were now selling them to any third part in want of one. Although their numbers had diminished, Danny Phantom haters still existed, and the halfa couldn’t help but feel that he was surrounded by a plethora of poorly trained, up-start Valeries.

Not only was there an abundance of frightened, untrained, gun-toting ghost haters, but there were many ghosts for them to hunt. Good ghosts weren’t the only ones who had become brave enough to venture outside the Ghost Zone. Many mischievous characters had come over as well, and while at this point none of them had caused true mayhem, it would only be a matter of time before another Vortex, or Undergrowth, or Pariah came through. _These_ ghosts were the reason Danny needed sleep.

During the day he was confident enough in the GIW and his parents to leave the weaker, more annoying ghosts to them. In the past three months he’d only been late for his first class twenty times, and he’d only had to leave class maybe fifteen to take care of a stronger ghost. But day time wasn’t the problem. These mischievous ghosts were smart enough to realize that they could wreak more havoc at night, when fewer people were out to stop them, which meant Danny was missing a lot of sleep time to send them back to the Ghost Zone.

But that wasn't even the worst of it. Ever since Kraeva was defeated, Danny had been frequenting the Ghost Zone and keeping an eye out for yeti ghosts. He thought that with Kraeva dead his captured allies would be able to return, but so far he'd found nothing. If he wasn't fighting ghosts, he was looking for them.

"Danny?"

"Hmm?" Danny blinked, pulling away from Sam, and realized that he hadn’t answered her yet. "Do power naps count?"

"No," Sam shook her head.

"Then… Monday, I think," he tilted his head back to look up at the glaringly bright fluorescent lights above him.

"Dude, three days?" Tucker gaped, and his reaction caused Danny to scowl.

"That doesn’t sound right… What day is it today?" Danny asked.

"Thursday."

"No, the _day_."

"It’s the tenth," Tucker said as he glanced at his phone.

"Oh, okay. Then Monday last week," Danny corrected his earlier answer, and was immediately confronted by an outraged girlfriend.

"What the hell Danny? You need to sleep, why haven’t you been sleeping?" Sam grabbed Danny’s shoulders, preventing him from walking away as the first bell rang.

"Ghosts, mostly, I think?" Danny shrugged and ducked out of Sam’s grasp. He didn't want to worry his girlfriend. He grabbed his backpack from Tucker, which the techno-geek had retrieved from the locker after some struggle, and stepped out of reach. "It’s fine. Come on, we need to go to class."

It was Sam’s turn to scowl and she adjusted her own spider backpack and followed Danny down the hall, with Tucker running after them. 

* * *

"I got him, Maddie!" The bellow of Jack Fenton could easily be recognized three blocks away by any resident of Amity Park. It was rather useful as a warning. Not that ghosts were around, ghosts were always around and nowadays someone was always there to shoot the bad ones down. Jack's bellow was the equivalent of a feral dog's growl. It warned that danger was near. Although the danger in those situations was a little different. Jack probably woulnd't lunge and attack viciously, unless you were a ghost, but he was famous for his clumsiness. Anti-ecto weapons may not truly harm normal humans, but it still left a hell of a bruise if you were hit by a stray blast.

So when Jack Fenton yelled, you ducked out of sight.

The large, orange jumpsuited man was barreling down the street with a gun half as big as he was hoisted on his shoulder. The Box Ghost was flying several feet in front of him, shrieking beware while pelting boxes at anything that moved. Said boxes had been stolen from a nearby thrift store, and whenever they hit something they burst open and scattered old but stylish clothes across the sidewalk. Once all ghosts and Fentons were clear from the area, those clothes would be gone in minutes. There was a reason everyone loved the Box Ghost, despite how annoying he was.

"Get back here ghost!"

The irony of the situation was not lost on Maddie as she watched her husband chase their adversary. This very same ghost had helped them fight the invading army, among with several others, and now they were hunting him down. But it was part of the job. When a ghost started to bother humans, it was the ghost hunters that were tasked with detaining them. Although the Fentons no longer hunted with the goal of experimentation. They had taken a leaf out of their son's book and captured ghosts to return them to the Ghost Zone. They even kept Fenton Thermos' with them at all times, although Jack and Maddie preferred to use their more creative weapons, such as the gun Jack was currently firing.

A blast of purple energy burst from the barrel and flew towards the Box Ghost.

"Fear m--uh-oh." The energy enveloped the Box Ghost and with a bright flash he was trapped inside a transparent purple orb.

"Beware the might of of my boxy vengance!" Boxes started to bounce off the orb, but nothing happened. "I cannot be confined within such a shape!"

"Save it, ghost," Maddie snapped, although her voice was softer than it had once been. Most of the venom could be traced back to the fact that the Box Ghost was just _really annoying_ , and not because he was a ghost.

"I call shotgun," Jack shouted as they walked back to the Fenton RV, carrying the confining sphere in his arms.

"Of course, honey," Maddie smiled. Not like she would have let him drive anyways, she wanted to live to see Danny graduate high school at least. The ride back to Fenton Works was filled with constant chatter as Jack eagerly explained how the new gun worked to the Box Ghost. Maddie added the occasional word, correcting Jack whenever he said the wrong thing or started talking about fudge. Other than that, though, she was thinking of something else entirely.

Before, when ghosts were just the enemy and Danny Phantom was just another ectoplasmic entity, Maddie thought that ghost attacks were rare occurences. Well, not rare exactly, but that they weren't as common as they turned out to be. An attack once a day, or once every couple of days. She was surprised when she found herself chasing no few than three ghosts a day, everyday, since Danny started leaving some of the work to them. She was also worried. Danny used to take care of all ghost attacks, which meant that their three hunts a day were _his_ three hunts a day. And he had been doing it for a year with no assistance.

Maddie was confident in her son's skills. He had proven that he was strong and capable. That isn't what she worried about. Maddie worried about the stress it would have caused. Taking care of an entire city, and some occassions even the world, all on his own. Throughout all that he hadn't approached her once about any sort of troubles, even though he must have had many. Everything that happened, he kept it all bottled up inside. Maddie wasn't a psychologist, but her daughter was well on the way to becoming one and she had picked up a few things along the way. And she knew that locking everything away wasn't healthy.

Maddie admitted that she had noticed Danny's growing temper over the past year, but she had attributed it to teenage hormones and school troubles. She hated that she had dismissed it all so easily, and decided that when Danny got home that night, she would try and talk to him. 

* * *

"You're not allowed to patrol tonight."

"What?" Danny's head snapped up. He had been 'drawing' in his notebook, trying to see if it was possible to write puns in Esperanto. So far he hadn't had any luck.

"Patrol, tonight, no," Sam repeated. "You need to get some sleep. Tucker and I will go out, we'll take a few of the Ghostketeers. Everything will be fine."

Danny dropped his pencil and sighed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. He was tired, _really_ tired. One night without patrolling couldn't hurt, and the new Ghostketeers--they really needed to find a name for the rookies--could use some experience. Danny had helped a little with their training, although his father did most of it. Jack was eager to teach his trade and no one could fault him for that. Meetings were held weekly at Fenton Works and open lessons occured daily. Casper High had even lent some of the unused classrooms for these lessons. Last Danny heard, Principal Ishiyama was actually considering making the lessons into official classes in the school's curriculum. A lot of people supported the idea, though a few had some misgivings. Especially since it involved weaponry.

"I'll text Jazz and she'll lock you in the weapons vault. I'm sure you still haven't installed that sindie handle, and it is fortified against ghosts," Sam threatened.

"Okay, fine. I won't patrol tonight," Danny ceded and stood up as the final bell rang.

"Good." Sam slipped her hand in his as they walked to their lockers.

"Hey loverbirds!"

"We are _not_ lovebirds!" Danny and Sam chorused as they turned on Tucker, who had been jogging down the hall towards them.

"What? You're dating and I'm still not allowed to say that?" Tucker asked, and he actually looked a little disappointed.

"Nope," Danny shook his head.

"Why not?" Tucker whined.

"Because my new steel-toed boots say so," Sam hissed, and Tucker immediately took a step back.

"Dude, did you really have to buy her those?" Tucker asked as he moved a safe distance away.

"I did, actually. Usually, when you give someone a birthday present, you give them something they're gonna like," Danny grinned.

"Yeah, sure. It couldn't just be something written by Poe!" Tucker threw up his hands in exasperation and when Sam took a step towards him, he jumped away with a rather feminal squeak.

"Pff, wuss." Tucker spun around to face whoever had insulted him and saw a shock of blue hair disappearing.

"Sam, can I borrow one of your boots, and throw it at Morgan?"

"No."

Tucker groaned in defeat, but didn't ask again. Instead he changed the subject.

"What time is patrol tonight?" Sam fixed her glare on him. "What, what did I do?"

"Did you really already forget what happened this morning? _Danny_ is sleeping tonight. _We_ are patrolling, with the Ghostketeers. Maybe I'll invite Morgan," Sam smirked at Tucker's dismayed expression.

"You guys suck," Tucker grumbled.

"I can live with that. Let's just get to Fenton Works, I want to get some of this history project done tonight," Sam said.

Tucker nodded in agreement. "Would it be cheating if we tlaked to Dora?"

As Sam started to berate Tucker for trying to do the assignment without doing any actual work, Danny felt his eyes drawn to a narrow side street. There were clothes strewn about, which didn't surprise him much. He heard the Box Ghost had been flying around earlier that day. A few people were walking around and randomly picking up items. Danny preferred to think they would be returning the clothes to whoever they belonged to, but that was a long shot. But it wasn't them he was focused on. While everyone else was moving about, there was somone standing perfectly still. The figure looked a little blurry, and no one else was acknowleding them.

Danny didn't notice that he had stopped walking, and he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away. The figures head turned and Danny could clrealy make out their eyes.

They were a startingly familiar shade of red.

 


	2. General

Danny was supposed to be resting, as per Sam's orders, but found that he wasn't able to. He was intensely bothered by the figure that he had seen earlier. There were a lot of ghosts with red eyes, and they were usually the same shade. Danny actually had a theory about that, but he wasn't focused on it right now. Of all the ghosts with red eyes, there were only two that were noticeably different. First was Dora, who had light coloured eyes. The second, and Danny had been doing his best not to think about this one, was Dan. Dan's eyes had been a darker red than any others'. The eyes he saw in the shadows had been a dark red.

At least Danny thought they had been. Now he wasn't sure, but he wished he stayed behind and gotten a closer look. Then he could have confirmed that they weren't Dan's eyes, and he wouldn't be thinking about his alternate evil self right now. Danny still had no idea why, before everything with Kraeva happened, he had found himself quoting Dan while doodling. He knew that the only reason Dan had come about in the first place was because and alternate Danny absorbed Vlad's evil ghost half, something this Danny was planning on never doing. Logically speaking, he had not reason to fear becoming Dan. But after everything that happened he was now more afraid then ever.

Danny's red eyes weren't permanent, but he had them now. His eyes didn't flash green when angry, they turned red. Not to mention everything that Danny had done during the Battle of Amity Park. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push away the images that came to him. Hayden, dead. Operative N, dead. Kraeva, Vlad, and a citizen whose name Danny didn't even know. All dead.

And it was his fault, because he couldn't save Hayden or the citizen, and he killed the others himself. He couldn't save them, and he killed them. Failed them and killed them, failed and killed, _failedand-_

Danny took a deep breath, trying to quell his rising panic. It took a few minutes but he was eventually successful. His panic attacks had subsided greatly now that his death day had passed. He knew that most of them had been caused by the emotional pain surrounding that day. The others were from emotional pain in general. He had still been having attacks since the end of the battle, but managed to end most of them quickly with a little help from the deadly tool taped behind his mirror. Danny tried not to, if he could, but he had to.

He shook his head sharply as his thigh began to itch. To distract himself, he lunged for his desk and pulled an envelop out of the top drawer. He spilled the contents onto his bed and started browsing through the papers.

It was everything he had about his ongoing search for Frostbite and his subjects. Mostly it was just maps with a few scribbled notes about about the banished lands, the place that had once imprisoned Kraeva, and the place he had used to hold his captives. This was the most logical place for the yetis to be, but there was a problem with that. Skulker had visited the banished lands to help free Danny's allies before the end of the battle. It's where Pandora and her soldiers had been. But Skulker hadn't brought the yetis back, meaning they hadn't been held in the same location as all the others. Or they weren't even there.

Danny groaned in frustration and hung his hand, digging his fingers into his hair. He struggled to remember who else Skulker had brought to the fight. Not having been present for the moment, he couldn't say for sure, but there must have been another prisoner that he freed. Along with Pandora and her men, he had brought Danny's clones and the Ghost Writer. None of which had been prisoners. But there was someone else.

"Technus!" Danny's head shot up as he remembered. Skulker had brought Technus. Before Kraeva revealed himself, Technus had been missing from the Ghost Zone. Danny had summoned Technus to interrogate him, then sent him away. But where had he summoned the tech ghost from? It Technus had actually been in the banished lands, then Danny could ask him about being there. He'd already gotten everything he could form Pandora and her soldiers. They had been confined to a single room close to the outer edges of the banished lands. When Skulker freed them, they hadn't been able to see much. But Technus had been making a device for Skulker, which was ultimately done under Kraeva's orders. It was slim, but there was a chance that Technus would have seen closer to the center of the banished lands, where Kraeva would have been living.

Danny lept to his feet, fully intent on charging into the Ghost Zone so he could question Technus as soon as possible. When he stumbled he remembered his promise to Sam. Sleep, not patrol.

Technically speaking, questing Technus wouldn't count as patrol, but he did need sleep. Being a halfa he didn't need to sleep very long, and those required hours seemed to be growing less and less necessary as time went on. But a week was pushing it. He flopped back onto his bed, half-heartedly shoving the papers back into their envelope, and decided that Technus could wait.

* * *

"So could he somehow get inside my PDA?" Tucker asked, looking suspiciously at the device in his hands.

"Unless you have a ghostly firewall," Danny answered, a little impatiently. As soon as he woke up that morning he told Sam and Tucker his intentions to find Technus. He stated that he would be going before school, and hopefully wouldn't be late. Then they could discuss at lunch. When Tucker heard Danny was going to see the ghost of technology, he insisted on coming. Danny didn't mind, it was good to be able to bring his best friend along for ghost business. At least he didn't mind at first. It would be Tucker's first time officially meeting the ghost and he hadn't stopped asking questions since they stepped, or floated, into the Ghost Zone. Although it was a little amusing to watch Tucker struggle with flying. It was also good to know that humans could fly in the Ghost Zone. Previously, whenever Danny did it in human form, he attributed it to his ghostly DNA. That had apparently been wrong.

"Ghostly firewall? Hilarious," Tucker chuckled. He stopped when he saw Danny's expression. "Wait, dude, you're serious? There are ghostly firewalls?"

"There was an incident a while back with a computer and a video game. I created it after that, and now he can't access the lab computer," Danny explained as he recalled the Doom incident. He wondered if he should tell Tucker the part he played in that incident.

"You created it? I didn't know computers were your thing." Tucker actually sounded a little hurt at that.

"Trust me, they're not. Machines are more my thing. What little coding I know is from fixing the Specter Speeder. It has... unique coding." That was the easiest way to describe Jack Fenton's mind when applied to programming.

"Oh, cool," Tucker nodded, now fully recovered from the earlier offense. "Where are we going to find him, his lair?"

"No. It's offensive to intrude on another ghost's lair unless you're invited. I didn't know that before, and now there's a kid somewhere out there with a vendetta against me." Danny cringed and chuckled. "We've almost caught up to him anyways."

Tucker nodded and they flew in silence until a ghost wearing a long jacket with his white hair styled into a mullet came into view.

"Technus!" Danny shouted after him. Technus paused and turned back, looking at Danny. His eyes widened in surprise.

"It was all Skulker's idea!" Technus yelled, then took off.

"Oh, come on," Tucker complained.

"Hold on, just wait here Tuck," Danny sighed. There was a bright flash as he teleported away. Tucker watched in amusement as, some distance away, Danny appeared in front of Technus. Technus shouted in surprise and tried to veer away, but Danny was able to stop him. There was another flash, and both ghosts appeared by Tucker's side. The techno-geek could now see that Danny's hand, which gripped Technus' shoulder, was encased in a thick layer of ice and holding them both together.

"First off, what was all Skulker's idea?" Danny asked.

"My hip and cool technological pursuits are not the concern of normal ghosts!" Technus resisted. Green electricity crackled dangerously down Danny's arm. Technus swallowed nervously and continued speaking. "Of course you, great king of ghosts, are no normal ghost and have every right to know. It is a Skulktech suit!"

"Skulktech?" Tucker questioned.

"Yes, combining my technological might with Skulker's hunting skills. We shall be unbeatable!" Technus declared. Danny had paled the moment Technus mentioned Skulktech. When he caught both Tucker and Technus staring at him, he pushed through his shock and got straight to the point.

"Were you held captive by Kraeva?"

"Yes, I was. And forced to make that device, which was all Skulker's idea," Technus quickly explained.

"So when I summoned you?"

"I was rescued from captivity!"

"And when I sent you away.

"I was returned to captivity," Technus said dejectedly, slumping in Danny's grip.

"And freed by Skulker later," Danny nodded. He had suspected as much. Because of the Ancients and the power they gave him, he had been able to summon Technus directly from the banished lands. He could try it again, try and someone Frostbite, or Snowstorm, or any of the yetis he knew. But he didn't think it would work. Danny had the mark of the Ancients, but he didn't have have the full force of their power. He could leech some of their power to use his new abilities like teleportation and electricity, but the markings would only appear on his body if a new threat rose that would require all of might to defeat. Until that situation, he was on his own. It was cool, being chosen by the Ancients, but it was also frustrating. He could access all this power, but only when they allowed it. And he would need more than he had to summon someone.

With Danny's emotions in flux during the battle, his powers had been fluctuating as well. The Ancients had been gathering their own power, building it up inside him so that he could fight Kraeva. Some of that must have been leaking out whenever Danny became emotionally agitated. But not anymore, now that the Ancients had recovered from years of weakness and could once again control the outflow of power.

If Danny wanted to find them, he would have to do it himself.

"What was it like the banished lands, and did you see any yetis while there?"

"It's confusing, lots of ways to get lost. I don't think I even saw a quarter of it. And there was so little technology!"

"And the yetis?"

"None."

Danny frowned and released his hold on Technus. The ghost didn't wait for permission, just flew away. Faintly Danny could hear Tucker lamenting at his missed chance to question the ghost, but he was hardly paying attention to that. Technus hadn't seen any yetis, but he also hadn't seen the vast majority of the banished lands. Frostbite and the others could be in there, somewhere. Danny was confident that, with his ghost sense, he would be able to locate them.

"Tuck, we're going to the banished lands," Danny decided and turned away.

"What? Right now?" Tucker squeaked, frantically trying to keep up with Danny's fast flying. The halfa didn't dignify him with an answer and instead rolled his eyes while waiting for Tucker to figure out himself. "Oh, right, school. No, not right now."

* * *

Danny and Tucker ended up being late for class. As per the rules, Lancer had to give them detention. But because of the Ghostketeer class that night, which Lancer would be attending, he told them to come in at lunch instead. Because of this, Danny and Tucker weren't able to meet with Sam. They spent the hour working on their history project rather than talking about ghosts, to Tucker's chagrin. But Sam would be happy to know that they actually got a decent bit of work done.  
They didn't have any afternoon classes together either, so they couldn't speak then. Since they were already lingering in order to meet up the trio decided to stop by today's lesson. Maddie was teaching today, with a little help from Lancer. Jack was probably back at Fenton Works working on his latest invention. No one noticed them when they entered, so they decided to hang out at the back of the room.

Hanging at the front of the classroom was a laminated map of Amity Park. Someone had used a whiteboard marker to draw two green circles on it, with Fenton works and Casper High as the respective epicenters. After a few minutes Danny heard someone hissing and looked to his left to see Morgan and Erin sitting in two of the back corner desks. The two girls had been frequently hanging out over the past few months, although that was normally just outside of school.  
Morgan had spotted them and was waving them over. Danny nudged Tucker, grabbed Sam's hand, and walked over.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Lesson of the day is apparently your battle strategy," Morgan answered, not as quietly. She didn't much care about making a disturbance. A few heads turned back towards them and started a ripple of whispers.

"I hadn't noticed," Danny answered dryly, ignoring the eyes looking their way. There was now one large circle on the map, and Maddie was explaining how the boosted the power of the Fenton Works shield to increase the area. When the two shields met, the power from Casper High's generator was added to the other. Now most people were looking back instead of forwards and Maddie finally noticed her son at the back of the class.

"Hi, sweetie," Maddie cooed with an exaggerated wave. He gave her a small wave back. "I was just about to start discussing your attack plan, would you like to do it?"

Danny was about to say no, but found three hands on his back pushing him forwards before he could. He glared at Tucker, and gave Sam and exasperated look. They were both smirking at him. To Morgan, he mouthed "ow". Not that her push had actually hurt him, but it had been surprisingly strong. She tilted her head up and grinned triumphantly. Danny was still hesitating when Tucker shouted.

"Go ahead, General!"

"Tuck, I told you to stop calling me that," Danny snapped.

"Sorry, General-In-Training," Tucker corrected. "No purple robes for you yet."

"I swear, Tucker," Danny grumbled and shook his head, then walked to the front of the classroom. He quickly explained his strategy. Dividing the army of wraiths were it was thickest, then attacking each group on two fronts and forcing them into tight areas. From their, they were supposed to set off specially designed shields that deliver a powerful anti-ecto shock and eliminate the remaining wraiths. Which they had done, just not in the way that was planned.

"Okay, does anyone have any questions?" Maddie asked. A few hands shot into the air and Danny groaned when he saw Morgan's was one of them. That was, regrettably, the hand that Maddie chose. Danny knew that Morgan wouldn't have a question relevant to the battle, but instead one to annoy him. And he was right.

"Yeah, Danny, why did Tucker call you General?" The original Ghostketeers knew that answer to that question perfectly well, which meant Morgan had asked it purely for the joy of the other students in the room. Danny glared at the blue-haired girl while Tucker answered from the back of the room.

"Because an ancient Greek ghost is training him in military tactics and making him her general."

A few curious eyes lit up and several more hands shot into the air. Danny shifted his glare between Morgan and Tucker. They were enjoying this and, based on her muffled laughter, Sam was too.

"Just, ask," Danny said, waving his hand.

"Why is she training you?"

"Repaying a favour."

"Do you know all ghosts?"

"No, but I know a lot of them."

"How did you know ghosts weren't evil when you first met them?"

This question made Danny pause. He hadn't known that. In fact, before meeting the Dairy King at Vlad's castle, he had assumed all ghosts were bad. Just like everyone else. He felt a little guilty at that, since he lectured Valerie and his parents about how they shouldn't just ghosts in the past.

"Talk to them. If they aren't attacking you, they aren't evil. And even the ghosts that do attack aren't evil. It can get a little boring, wandering the Ghost Zone for decades," Danny supplied, pleased with the answer. Before another question could be asked, he walked to the back of the room. A few disappointed mumbles sounded behind him but he didn't care. It wasn't that Danny didn't like the attention. When he was preparing Amity to fight the wraiths he proved that he was comfortable in a position where a lot of eyes were turned on him. But questions about his relationship with ghosts could sometimes get a little too close to his other life. Enough people knew about his identity as it was, he didn't need more finding out his secret.

After a few more general questions, which thankfully didn't revolve around Danny, Maddie declared the lesson was over. Once the room was empty of all non-Ghostketeers, Danny made his announcement.

"I need to go into the banished lands."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous? What for?" Maddie asked, falling into protective mother mode.

"The citizens of the Far Frozen haven't come back yet, even though Kraeva's gone. I think they're still trapped there and they need to be rescued," Danny explained.

"That expedition could take some time, when are you going to do it?" Lancer, no doubt concerned about Danny's schooling, asked.

"It's almost December, which means Christmas break is coming up in a few weeks. I'll be going then."

"You know, that I really care about it, but shouldn't we be telling all the Ghostketeers? And by you, I assume you mean us," Morgan said. She looked eager at the prospect of going into the Ghost Zone. Danny was the only one that had been in there since the battle, and she had missed out on the opportunity the first time around.

"I wouldn't be going alone, but I wasn't really intending for everyone to go. The banished lands are probably like a maze, if we take a big group, we could easily lose track of people and they could be gone forever," Danny explained.

"But you could find us, with your sense or whatever," Erin urged.

"Nope. It only works on ghosts, which none of you are." Danny shook his head.

"Tucker and I are going," Sam said. Danny opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. "It's already decided."

Sam was standing with her arms crossed, one foot forward in an almost threatening manner, although she only ever kicked Tucker. She wasn't going to back down, which frustrated Danny to end. He trusted his best friend and girlfriend, had faith in their abilities. But he could never forget what happened to Sam when she was taken by Kraeva. Most of her wounds had been superficial, but there was one thin white scar on her collar bone that continuously reminded him of how he had failed. He didn't want to fail again, because it hurt so much when he did, and he'd failed enough.

He had recently toyed with the idea of erasing their memories again, using Desiree to wish the past couple of months from everyone's minds. It could go back to the way it was. No one would no his secret, no one would be at risk. The way it should be. It was wrong, and selfish, but he honestly wanted to do it. He had almost went looking for the wishing ghost one. At the last minute he'd decided against it.

Even if Danny told her that she couldn't come, Sam wouldn't listen. She did what she wanted.

"Fine, you and Tucker are coming," Danny agreed. "We should take one more person, though."

Before anyone else could offer, Morgan spoke up. "Oh, that'll be me, of course."


	3. The Escapee

“You’re going into the Ghost Zone?”

“Yep!” Morgan chirped in an uncharacteristically cheery tone. She had remained adamant that she would complete the quartet. A few of the people present for her declaration, namely Maddie, Jack, and Tucker, had protested. But Morgan was stubborn, and frankly Danny wasn’t sure if she would be such a bad addition. She could be a little trigger happy, but he had a feeling she would be right at home in the Ghost Zone.

They were at an official Ghostketeer meeting, meaning only the original members were there. And Amber on the occasion. She was allowed, since she knew Danny’s secret, and she liked to know what her sister was up to.

“First off, won’t that be dangerous? And secondly, why are only you four going?” Valerie was standing at the front of the room, in her Red Huntress uniform, with a hand on her waist and a hip thrust out. Valerie Gray was not a jealous girl. She was a girl who’d been given everything, lost it, and decided to start taking things for herself. Jealousy was redundant. But she was a ghost hunter, a skilled one, and hunters should know as much about their prey as they can. Including their habitat. She had been to the Ghost Zone once before, when Skulker had captured her and Danny, and they had to work together to escape. Although she couldn’t remember how she got home. More than almost anything, Valerie wanted to go there again.

Danny could see that. But he didn’t want Valerie to go. For a year she had considered ghosts to be the one of the most evil entities on Earth. Her opinion had changed months ago, but instincts were hard to change. And Valerie’s instincts were to reach for a gun at the sight of an unfamiliar ghost. They weren’t really bad instincts, considering most unfamiliar ghosts they ran into turned out to be enemies. But Danny preferred to avoid a fight when possible. A tense, agitated ghost equalled a tense, agitated Valerie.

“I’m the most experienced hunter here besides you,” Valerie argued. Her eyes briefly flicked over to the corner where Jack and Maddie were standing. “… And the Fentons. You could need me.”

“We can’t take a large group,” Danny said firmly. “Even numbers are better, so we can use a partner system. Anything larger than four is too big. Honestly, I’d prefer just two people.”

“No, you’d prefer one ghost boy. But you’re an idiot and we’re going,” Sam said, crossing her arms. Beside her Tucker nodded and Danny rubbed his neck while giving them a sheepish look. He at least had the mind to look sorry he considered, even if he wasn’t.

“Okay, so only four people go. But take _me_. Take your parents, take Jazz. Take anyone one of us. Except maybe Dash or Paulina—”

“Hey!”

“But why take _her_?” Valerie nodded to Morgan. A few mumbles of agreement came from behind the huntress, and beside Danny Morgan had stiffened. The halfa’s eyes narrowed. It was a high school norm for certain people to be collectively cast aside, and it sucked. Valerie, as an ex-A-lister, should understand how bad that feels. Danny felt a sudden surge of rage.

“Because I want her to go,” Danny snapped, and the green in his eyes flared brightly. Valerie visibly flinched at the sudden outburst, and Danny took a deep breath to calm himself. As he did, he could taste the emotions in the air. Morgan’s surprised triumph, Sam and Jack’s pride, and Valerie’s fear.

“Morgan will be going with us,” Danny said more calmly. “But we won’t be leaving until Christmas break anyways. That’s three weeks away, and lots of time for preparation. We’ll be ready for the Ghost Zone by the time we leave, and you’ll be ready to handle ghost attacks while I’m gone.”

“But we already do that, Danny-boy,” Jack stated loudly. Every meal at the Fenton household was now accompanied by Jack’s boisterous rants on the latest ghost chase. So even the neighbours knew Jack and Maddie were more frequently hunting ghosts.

“Right during the day.” Danny nodded, and he couldn’t help but smirk. “But have you ever done a night patrol?” 

* * *

It had been a while since Danny enjoyed himself so thoroughly on a night patrol. Usually he was alone, everyone else being asleep and unaware of nighttime activity. But Danny wanted, _needed_ , Amity Park to be protected at all hours while he was gone. This meant taking the Ghostketeers with him on his weekend patrols, where he usually stayed out until the early hours of the morning. During the week he usually retired around one, but on the occasion was awakened by his ghost sense. It was Saturday now, and the second nightly patrol. Last night he had been with the A-list members. Tonight was Tucker, Valerie, Nathan, Morgan, and Erin. The others would be with him tomorrow night.

“You do this every night?” Nathan asked. They were going through the park, since some of the more animalistic ghosts liked to hide in the foliage if they visited. Danny nodded, then remembered that the others couldn’t see him since he was floating above.

“Yeah. There usually aren’t a lot of attacks, maybe two or three, and they’re all pretty minor. But I like knowing everything is taken care of,” he answered. The Ghostketeers below didn’t need to ask what he meant by that, or why. The repercussions for Danny failing his obsession were big and after what happened with Hayden, no one wanted to relive that. It had been the scariest thing they ever witnessed.

“You could just let your ghost sense warn you,” Valerie suggested. She was walking with the others, rather than using her hoverboard at the moment. Danny felt a twinge of annoyance at her voice. It was irrational, and he knew it, but he was still mad at her. He couldn’t really blame her for what she said about Morgan, although it had been rude and insensitive. It had been ingrained into practically every kid in Casper High. Morgan was an outcast, even if being with the Ghostketeers gave her some semblance of popularity. But Danny just couldn’t let it go.

He like to blame this on the fact that he too was once an outcast, and he sort of resented his newfound popularity. But he knew that the underlying problem was his temper. It had been happening a lot lately. He got angry quickly, and about little things. So far he had been hoping that would just go away. Danny knew it was a waste of time, though. He could feel that something was wrong, he just chose to ignore it.

They had almost reached the Eastern park entrance, meaning they could resume walking the streets again, when something caught Danny’s eye. A faint red glow behind a thick bush. Without even realizing it he had flown away from the group and was floating towards it. The others called after him and were forced to follow when he didn’t respond. Suddenly the glow vanished and Danny shot forwards, flying over the bush and nearly colliding with a tree in his hurry. The area was empty.

“Danny, what’s wrong?” Valerie, now on her hoverboard, asked as she flew up beside him. Danny’s eyebrow twitched, but he ignored it.

“Nothing, I guess. I just thought that—” His mouth snapped shut, teeth clacking, as the glow appeared again in the corner of his eye. Danny shot off into the darkness after it.

“Danny, wait!” He didn’t know who was yelling for him, but it didn’t matter. He just knew that he had to follow the glow. Danny broke through the trees, quickly gaining altitude, and realized that he was following a ghost. It had a faint red aura and, before it disappeared into the clouds, Danny could see the same dark red eyes from a few days ago. The halfa sped up, trying to gain on his quarry.

He stopped in the middle of the cloud, surrounded by white mist, and spun around. For a moment he thought he had lost the ghost, but again saw the telltale hint of red flashing just beyond his vision. Danny pivoted and rocketed straight downwards. Valerie, the only Ghostketeer capable of following, had been trailing behind him and let out a sharp shriek when passed. Danny barely through her a backwards glance to make sure he hadn’t knocked her off her board before plunging into the streets.

The ghost was always there, just barely at the edge of his vision, or just far enough ahead that its aura could be seen, but no defining features. Danny was flying mere inches above the pavement, and if he were to look down, his nose probably would have scraped against any loose stones. Buildings and cars flew by in a blur, but he didn’t stop.

It took a while, but Danny realized that they were circling back towards the park where the others were. He turned intangible just in time to rocket through them, then disappeared down a quiet street. He let out a panicked yell when he was suddenly face to face with the ghost. Danny backpedalled and the second he blinked, the ghost was halfway down the street floating in a dim pool of golden light.

The ghost wasn’t a familiar one. Even though it was some distance away, Danny could make out red eyes and a familiar outfit. One that Danny himself had worn once before. The black and white striped clothes of Walker’s prisoners, the little hat included. This ghost, whoever it was, was probably an escapee.

“I can help you!” Danny called. The ghost cocked its head and threw a fist forward, a ball of white energy bursting from its knuckles. Danny dodged as the ghost started to fly away. He gave chase, but knew that he wouldn’t catch up. In a desperate attempt, he raised a glowing hand and fired an ectoblast after the ghost.

It disappeared around a corner, and the blast followed. Danny zoomed after them but when he reached the corner, he saw nothing. Not telltale burn or sign of destruction from his blast hitting the street or a nearby building, and no ghost.

Danny growled in frustration and was prepared to fire again at any sign of movement. When a red body suddenly burst forth from an alley, Danny gathered a blast in his palm. His eyes widened when he realized it was actually Valerie and not the ghost. At the last second he twitched his wrist, and the blast soared harmlessly over her shoulder, but dangerously close. It burst against a building, electricity crackling out from the epicentre and crawling alone the stone until was dispersed.

Valerie looked the blackened wall, then back to Danny with wide eyes. Danny was about to stammer an apology when the ghost appeared once more, behind Valerie. It lifted an arm and a green ball shot down its length.

“Val, look out!” Danny shouted, but he hadn’t been fast enough. The ectoblast exploded against her board, sending her crashing down. Tucker, who had followed Valerie after Danny zoomed by at the park, scurried to catch her. He made it to the right spot, but wasn’t quite ready yet when Valerie slammed into him. There was a loud crack, a pained yell, and a groan. The prisoner ghost forgotten, Danny flew down towards them.

“Tucker, Valerie, are you okay?” Danny asked as he landed beside them, phasing out of ghost mode. Valerie appeared to be relatively okay, despite the fall. She groaned a little but was able to scramble off of Tucker with her normal agility. The techno-geek, on the other hand, wasn’t as well off. He was holding one arm close to his body and Danny noticed that there was a distinct bend in the middle of it where there shouldn’t be. Danny felt a white hot stab of pain in his chest at the sight of the injury.

_He had failed._

Tucker, more in shock than anything, stared down at his arm with a horrified expression.

“Dude, you know medicine, you can fix this, right?” Tucker asked, sounding a little hysterical. “I don’t need a hospital.” 

* * *

Tucker obviously had needed a hospital, and he spent nearly every second there with his eyes squeezed shut and muttering something about models. Danny was surprised that he hadn’t actually known about this fear before. But apparently Tucker was extremely embarrassed about it and kept it a secret from as many people as possible. It made Danny wonder what Tucker had been up to that time the entire student body was imprisoned by Spectra in North Mercy hospital. He didn’t remember seeing Tucker there at any point during the fight.

It was morning now and Tucker was staring glumly down at his fresh cast, which Danny and Sam had already signed in large, obnoxious letters.

“I can’t go now, can I?” Tucker muttered.

“Sorry dude. We don’t know what’ll happen while we’re in the Ghost Zone. I can’t let you go while you’re injured,” Danny said.

“Aw, man. It was gonna be so awesome.”

“I don’t know, Tuck. What if your precious Cheryl, or Sharon, or whatever, didn’t work there? What if it broke?” Sam asked in mock horror. Tucker, meanwhile, gave a worried yelp and clutched his PDA close to his chest.

They were in the basement of Fenton Works at the moment. Jack, Maddie, and Jazz were asleep somewhere above them, while the Ghostketeers involved in the incident were gathered around a lab table. Tucker’s parents had been called and informed of his injuries, and allowed him to stay at the Fentons with some smooth persuading on the trio’s part.

“Danny, what the hell were you doing?” Valerie asked, drawing everyone’s attention to the elephant in the room. “Why’d you suddenly take off like that? Why did you _shoot_ at me, and where did that other blast come from?”

Danny sighed and raised four fingers, lowering each one as he answered Valerie’s questions. “I was chasing a ghost. I took off because I saw the ghost, and it flew away. My shooting at you was an accident an accident. The ghost has a red aura, you have a red aura, and you surprised. And the other blast was from said ghost. Anything else?”

“Yeah, what ghost?”

Danny looked at Valerie in confusion, then at Sam and Tucker. They both shook their heads. They hadn’t seen the ghost either.

“What did it look like?” Sam asked.

“I saw its aura first, in the trees. It was red and really faint. I never really got a good glimpse of the ghost, but it was wearing one of Walker’s prison uniforms,” Danny explained.

“Walker?” Sam frowned.

“Prison?” Tucker squeaked.

“He was here during the battle. Where’s all white, can control his size, his obsession is rules. He’s self-proclaimed warden of the Ghost Zone and arrests everyone because of all these ridiculous laws. Anyways, his prisoners where these white and black striped uniforms, like what you see in cartoons.”

“Where you ever arrested?” Valerie asked. She was watching Danny closely, as if gauging his reaction. He decided to be honest.

“Once or twice.” Danny shrugged and nodded. He continued speaking when it looked like the others were going to question him more. “But that doesn’t matter right now, I’ll tell you about it later. What matters is the ghost. I don’t think this is the first time I’ve seen him. A few days ago I saw a pair of glowing red eyes while walking on the street. I think that was him.”

“But he didn’t attack you then,” Sam stated.

“No. He didn’t attack _me_ this time, either. He fired at me once, but I think it was more for a distraction than anything. What I don’t get is why it attacked Valerie instead of me. _I_ was the one chasing him.” Danny dropped his chin into his hands, frowning down at the table. It didn’t really make sense. It’s possible that the blast was meant for him, and Valerie just got in the way, but the ghost had clearly been aiming at the Red Huntress. The ghost could have been targeting her from the beginning, but then he could have attacked outright instead of leading Danny on a wild chase. There hadn’t even been a guarantee that Valerie would follow.

“I think we should watch out for that ghost, he could pop up again. Tucker, when I’m gone—”

“When we’re gone,” Sam interrupted.

“When _we’re_ gone,” Danny corrected, “could you keep an eye out for it?”

“Sure. You know, I think your enemies spoil you. Most of the time, they launch into some monologue about who they are and what they’re doing here. You’ve gotten too used to it, dude,” Tucker chuckled.

“I’m sure you’re right.” Danny nodded. He also recalled to particular villains who didn’t monologue, and both times they had almost beat him. He still won in the end, but Danny never wanted to face anyone like Kraeva again. But more than anything, he never wanted to face Dan again.


	4. Replacements and Donors

Danny had never found himself so focused on a piece of paper before. Although technically he was focusing on the _names_ on said paper. He’d also been pretty focused on the paper he wrote his battle plan on several months ago. And he always _tried_ to focus on his school assignments. So maybe he had been this focused, and possibly even more focused, before. Just not on this particular page.

_Lancer_

_Maddie_

_Jack_

_Valerie_

_Jazz_

_Erin_

_Nathan_

_Jason_

_Dash_

_Paulina_

_Star_

_Kwan_

He was reviewing a list of the official Ghostketeer members not already going into the Ghost Zone come winter break, minus Tucker because of his injury. Danny needed to pick a replacement since it was doubtful that he could convince either Sam or Morgan to not go. He had toyed with the idea of bringing one of his ghostly allies, or Danielle, since they would provide a better advantage. But Danny wanted Danielle in Amity Park to help defend, and he felt the he’d asked enough of his allies for now. He was confident that he wouldn’t be taking Valerie, nor Nathan, Paulina, or Erin. His parents could get distracted by the Ghost Zone itself, so it would be best if they didn’t go either. Danny wouldn’t mind Kwan going along, but felt that he wasn’t the best choice. Star hadn’t seemed particularly eager either, and he didn’t want to force anyone. That left him with four options. Lancer, Jazz, Jason, or Dash.

Danny sighed and shoved the paper across his desk. He could think about it later. Right now he had to pay attention to whatever his teacher saying. He glanced at Sam, sitting across from him. She caught the movement and subtly pushed her page of notes towards him. He scanned it quickly to catch up on the lesson, and turned his attention to the front of the room.

He was quickly distracted by his history teacher’s choice of wardrobe, a black and white sweater. Danny’s thoughts were quickly drawn to the escaped prisoner. Walker was normally very vigilant when it came to his inmates. There were only two times when any of Walker’s prisoners managed to escape, and Danny was involved both times. First when he orchestrated a jail break, and again when he helped Wulf escape. In both cases Walker had cracked down afterwards to find the escapees, even if he wasn’t entirely successful. It didn’t make sense for the ghost Danny saw to be flying around without any sign of Walker or his goons. It could have been a part of the initial prison break last year, but then it should have acquired a new wardrobe by now.

A ghost’s clothes can’t just be changed like a human’s. It’s connected to their very being. Danny’s Phantom suit was the very jumpsuit he wore when he died, a reminder of his origins and his obsession. The inverted colours were a sign of the change he underwent during that process. If something about him were to change, then his outfit would to. Ember had been a rockstar when she was alive, and she desired the attention of fans. Her clothing reflected that.

Walker’s prison uniforms work in a similar fashion. They aren’t given to you, you’re just suddenly wearing them as soon as you’ve been put behind bars. A testimony to a ghost’s status as an inmate. But once the ghost were no longer jailed, the uniform should fade back to whatever they once wore. If Danny’s mystery ghost had been free for that long, he wouldn’t be wearing that.

Danny was muttering under his breath about little hats, ghost lice, and prison riots when Sam waved her hand in front of his face. As entertaining as his quiet utterances had been, the bell had rung three minutes ago and school was over for the day.

“Hey, ghost boy,” Sam whispered, even though the classroom was already empty.

Danny hummed distractedly, then blinked and looked up at his girlfriend. “What?”

“School’s done. Time to plan your breakout from the comfort of Fenton Works.” Sam chuckled as she pulled Danny out of his seat, shoving his backpack into his arms.

“No, the breakout already happened.” Danny spoke softly and shook his head, no yet focused on Sam.

“You planned a prison break?”

“I instigated it,” Danny corrected. He gave his head one final shake and his eyes cleared.

“That Walker guy?”

“Yeah. I brought contraband into the Ghost Zone, according to him and his book of rules.”

“You have to tell us that story,” Sam instructed.

“Sure, on the next patrol.”

Sam smiled at her small victory. There was still a lot that she and Tucker didn’t know about Danny’s year of solo hero work. He’d told them a couple stories, how Paulina was overshadowed during their brief week of dating. How the dragon at least year’s dance had been actually been Sam under the influence of Dora’s amulet—which explained her memory loss for that night. There were a few more stories, about Ember’s love song, Skulker hunting him, and or the time he was almost trapped inside Nocturne’s dream forever. But a lot could happen in a year, and Danny Phantom had a lot of enemies. It was obvious he was leaving things out.

Sam just hoped, since they were a involved in that part of his life now, all secrets would eventually be revealed. Tucker joined them as they were leaving school and they started walking to Fenton Works.

“Hey, dude. Have you chosen my replacement yet?” Tucker asked jovially, but it was obvious he was a little upset he wouldn’t be going on the expedition into the Ghost Zone.

“I’ve narrowed it down. Either Lancer, Jazz, or Dash. I was considering Jason before, but he’s not as good with a gun.” Danny sighed.

“So Dash is a better shot then Jason. Dash is good at something other than football? Has anyone checked on hell to see how they’re dealing with the sudden drop in temperature?” Tucker grinned, his smile widening when Danny actually laughed at his joke.

“Not yet, but I’ll get Ember right on that. I don’t think Pyre’s been home in a while,” Danny joked. But if Ember ever heard he said that, she’d probably play a killer chord just for him. “Don’t tell her.”

“Dude, my lips are sealed,” Tucker said solemnly.

Sam smirked at the boys’ antics, but the sight of a black haired girl walking past them reminded her of something important.

“Dani should be here today, right?” Sam asked, recalling Danny’s daughter. It had been really weird to find out, and she still didn’t one hundred percent understand the situation. But since Danielle wasn’t made with just Danny’s DNA, it made her more like a daughter than a clone or twin.

“Yeah. I modified a Fenton Phone for her before she left, and connected it to my phone. I can reach her from anywhere. I called her a couple days ago and asked her to return, just for a little while,” Danny confirmed. Sam noticed the significant look that Tucker seemed to give Danny. The techno-geek feel back so that he was a few steps behind them, nudging Danny as he did so.

Danny shot Tucker a look over his shoulder, then gave Sam a nervous grin.

“What’s all that about?” She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“It’s about Danny, there’s something that I—”

“Hey, Fen _turd_!”

Danny stopped and hung his head with an annoyed sigh. Dash had been too quick in getting over the fact that Danny was his hero, and still bullied him on the occasion. It wasn’t quite like before. There was no more shoving him into lockers or after school beatings, since Dash knew that those did nothing to him. But he’d still get the odd hassle, and rather uncreative insults never stopped.

When Danny turned to look at the jock, he had to slap a hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter. Dash’s blond hair was filled with thick ectoplasmic goo, and his normally white shirt had been stained a bright green. He was dragging a leaking Fenton Foamer behind him.

“Hi Dash. Technical problems?” Danny asked.

Dash growled and tossed the weapon down at his feet. “You’re parents’ stupid gun jammed when I was trying to fire it.”

“I didn’t know there were any ghosts in the area,” Danny said casually.

“You mean any _more_ ghosts,” Tucker corrected.

“Right, thanks Tuck.” Danny smirked while Dash’s expression darkened further. “If you weren’t hunting, what were you really doing?”

“You know, I heard some do ray of sunshine joined the cheer squad,” Sam added, spitting out the word sunshine like it the worst insult she could possibly think of. Considering it was Sam, that just might be the case.

Dash apparently didn’t like what they were insinuating, and he grabbed the collar of Danny’s shirt. The halfa didn’t budge, deciding it wouldn’t help to indulge the ill-proportioned teen, and just gave him a bored look. Dash ground his teeth together and stormed off down the street, pulling globs of ectoplasm out of his hair.

“Fenton Works gear usually doesn’t malfunction like that,” Tucker said as he picked up the discarded gun. He examined the canister of ectoplasm that had burst open.

“That’s because they don’t.” Danny took the gun from his arms and phased a hand into the barrel. He pulled out a piece of metal just the right size for the Foamer’s barrel. “It’s never a good thing when _Dash_ asks for a weapon for something other than patrol.”

Danny rested the gun on his shoulder and pocketed the chunk of metal while they continued on their way.

“Oh, Danny, what were you gonna say before Dash interrupted?” Sam intertwined her hand in his free one and bumped his shoulder.

“Hmm? Oh, it wasn’t important. We should probably hurry, before my parents notice one of their guns went missing. They were planning on upgrading them today.” Danny’s pace quickened, and Tucker rushed to catch up with him. Sam held back a moment, frowning at them, before following.

Danny would tell her when he was ready. 

* * *

“Daddy!” Danielle burst through the wall, not at all worried about who might see her, and flew straight into Danny.

“Hey!” Danny grinned and threw an arm around her. “How were the past three months?”

“I went to England, then Italy this time, picked up a little Italian. But I still didn’t know what most people were saying.” Dani pouted, but smiled a moment later when Danny laughed.

“Did you go to Rome?”

“Yeah! The Colosseum was awesome! And I got to see the whole thing, since I could turn invisible and intangible and nobody even knew I was there.”

“Cool.” Danny shifted, setting Dani down on her feet, so that she could tackle Tucker in a hug.

“Hey, Uncle Tuck!” Dani pulled away and hesitated just a moment before giving Sam the same treatment. “Hi, Sam! Is Jazz here?”

“Just upstairs,” Danny answered. By the time he looked up from the broken canister, Dani was gone.

“Is Dani going to stay once your little expedition is done?” Tucker asked.

“I haven’t asked her if she wants to yet. She might want to keep exploring, but I’d like it if she stayed with us for a while,” Danny said without taking his eyes away from his project. The canister was almost fixed, and soon the broken Foamer would be good as new.

“Uh-huh, _us_ ,” said Tucker slyly. Sam gave him a weird look when he did, and the techno-geek immediately started spinning in his chair, staring at the ceiling and whistling a casual tune.

“It’s between Dash and Jazz.”

“Huh?” Teal and amethyst eyes turned to Danny, ignoring the fact that it had been an obvious subject change.

“To go with us. I’ve narrowed it down to Dash and Jazz.”

“What happened to Lancer?” Tucker planted his feet and leaned over his chair towards the halfa.

“Teacher things. He’ll probably be busy preparing for the new semester,” Danny explained. He reattached the canister to the Foamer and tested its stability.

“Is _the_ Danny Fenton concerned about school?” Tucker gasped in faux shock. Danny chose that moment to swing the Foamer around and check the sights, looking straight at Tucker.

“I’ll have you know that I used to be very concerned about school. You know, before… Dash,” said Danny glumly. Tucker nodded apologetically, regretting bringing up those memories. It may be shocking to think about, but Dash was actually a less inhibited bully as a child. And at that time, Danny had been his _only_ target. The blond had never taken to others being smarter than him. Maybe if Dash hadn’t done those things when they were younger, Danny would have had a higher average in school now. Tucker was one of few people who knew Danny’s true potential and how he hid it.

What the rest of Amity Park witnessed during Kraeva’s attack was like standing before the ocean, and choosing to stare at the water just around your feet. There was so much more that could be seen, but wasn’t. Tucker wasn’t even sure if _Sam_ knew exactly how smart Danny really was. There was a lot she didn’t know.

Tucker glanced at the clock on his PDA and jumped up from his seat.

“Oh, man! I was supposed to be home half an hour ago. Sorry, see you guys tomorrow!” Tucker snatched up his backpack, clumsily threw it over his shoulder, and bolted up the stairs. He passed Jazz and a human Dani on the way, giving them a quick wave, before bursting out onto the street.

It wasn’t exactly urgent that he be home as soon as possible, but his parents were sort of punishing him for what they called reckless behaviour. He had told them that breaking his arm was a total fluke, and an accident, but they thought he could be more careful. Part of his punishment was that he was grounded. Although he wasn’t sure how well his parents grasped the concept of grounding, considering they were granting him an hour of hang out time after school before he had to be home.

The walk from Fenton Works to home wasn’t far for him, but he stretched it out as long as he could to give him time to think. Tucker was positive that he knew more about Danny’s time working alone than Sam did. He understood why. Danny was didn’t want to worry Sam, and he didn’t want to scare her. Tucker certainly had been, at first, when Danny told him everything about Dan.

He hadn’t been scared of Danny, per se, but of what Danny could become. His best friend had explained that, as long as he didn’t rip out Vlad’s ghost half and try to absorb it for some reason, Dan would never exist. Tucker wasn’t worried about that. He was worried about the fact that Danny’s goodness could have been overcome so easily, especially when he was supposed to be stronger than Vlad. After the Battle, Danny had assured Tucker that it was now impossible for Dan to come into existence, although Tucker didn’t know why he was so positive. He had faith in his friend’s ability to make better decisions than his alternate self, but Vlad as his ghost half was still around somewhere.

At least that’s what Tucker thought.

He pulled his attention away from alternate evils, and the potential they spelled for the current Danny, and instead focused on the third halfa in existence.

It hadn’t been that long since Danny fulfilled his promise and revealed who Dani’s other unwilling DNA donor had been. It had taken two months of begging, and constant promises that he wouldn’t reveal a thing unless Danny said that he could. It was a hard promise to keep, and Tucker had nearly fainted when Danny said the single syllable answer. It was such a huge thing to know and keep to himself.

Danny hadn’t even mentioned it since, although Tucker had hinted at their conversation several times, and tried to push Danny into confessing. It had taken Tucker a couple days to come to terms with the truth, but he had, and everything was good now. He sure that Dani’s mother would accept it too.

Besides, they were halfway there. Sam liked Dani already.


	5. Phantom of Secrets

Danny was exhausted, which is something that rarely happens for the halfa. There was a little over a week left until winter break, and he had been spending most of his spare time preparing for that. Using the plans for Axion Labs' X-23 Booster Rocket, Danny had been assembling three jetpacks for use in the Ghost Zone. They wouldn't be as powerful as the X-23, but they'd certainly be better than three inexperienced humans trying to through an alternate dimension. It was easy to forget sometimes hoe convenient being a halfa could be.

Along with the jetpacks, Danny had stockpiled everything they might need. Med-kits, weapons, food and so on. In the corner of his bedroom was a stack of backpacks bursting at the seams with their necessary gear. But there was still more preparing to be done.

On every patrol Danny was accompanied by a Ghostketeer so they could adjust to _his_ ghost fighting schedule. Meetings had been replaced with training sessions, and even the unofficial members were being taught how to use Fenton Works' weapons. Danny was willing to admit, it might be a little overkill, but he wanted Amity Park to be safe while he was gone. Danielle was training as well, something she hadn't really done before. But their time together was fun.

Now, though, there was only one thing left to do. Danny had to let the final member of the rescue group know they would be going. He'd been putting it off for two weeks, not quite dreading the interaction, but certainly not looking forward to it. He wasn't afraid or anything, but knew he'd probably regret the decision once it became real. Still, it had to be done, and he was Danny freaking Phantom, general of the Amity Park Forces, unofficial legionnaire of Pandora, and knight of Princess Dorathea. This was nothing.

He stood by the Fenton Portal in front of his fellow Ghostketeers. He'd been training with Danielle just a few minutes ago, and because of that was still in Phantom mode. He couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

"So I've decided on who's going to take Tucker's place during the rescue," Danny announced. A couple Ghostketeers—namely Jason and Jack—shuffled forwards in their seats, eager to hear his decision.

"Dash." Danny paused, letting it sink in for a moment, before focusing on the jock. "No one's forcing you to go, but you're my first choice."

There was moment of stunned silence, which was completely understandable. Few people would have expected that decision, what with Dash being a bully and picking on Fenton all the time. It hadn't been an easy one to make, but it's what Danny chose.

Both Jazz and Dash were good shots, Jazz admittedly more so. Buy in the end it wasn't just about skill, it was also about orders. Jazz was a prideful big sister, and she liked to take care of Danny when they were younger. During the Battle, she'd listened to him along with everyone else, but she'd also been less skilled then. Now that she was better, Danny knew she'd probably try to take up the role of protective older sibling again, which could lead to her not listening to him, which could then lead to serious consequences. Danny loved his sister, he really did, but for a budding psychologist sometimes she just didn't understand.

To some Dash would hardly seem like a better choice. He was bullheaded, arrogant, proud, and boastful. He tended to overestimate his abilities, push others around, and didn't like taking orders. Especially from people like Fenton. But he _would_ listen to Phantom, with the right promptings. Danny knew that it wasn't okay to threaten his peer, but that proved to be highly effective three months ago. He could do it again. Even though it was wrong, wrong, _wrong_ (but was kind of fun). It wouldn't be easy getting Dash to listen, but it would be easier than getting Jazz to accept that Danny just wasn't a little kid anymore that constantly needed her watching out for him.

"Yeah, I'll go. I knew you'd pick me," Dash scoffed in response to Danny's statement. _That_ ' _s_ what the halfa had been dreading. He knew this would all go to the jock's head, and when all of this was done, Dash would probably be even more insufferable than before. But it was too late now. The cocky smile was already plastered across the boy's face.

"Okay, then it's settled." Danny shrugged, and the Ghostketeers were dismissed. As everyone else started shuffling about, Jazz marched up to Danny. He looked over her shoulder, glad to see that their parents weren't right behind her. Jack looked disappointed that he wouldn't go, and Maddie looked worried, but at least they understood. Danny needed them here to protect the town.

"Danny, I don't think this is a good idea. All this is doing is feeding Dash's ego, which isn't good for the people he bullies, and that means _you_. You could need me while you're there," Jazz said. It was kind of funny, since Danny was taller than her now, to see the angry redhead glaring _up_ at him while trying to be intimidating.

"I've made my decision, Jazz. It wasn't easy, but I did. If it wasn't Dash it would have been you, but I need you here," Danny insisted.

"I want to help you," Jazz urged. Danny stifled a groan. He knew this argument would end up dragging on long after the basement emptied. He got it, he did. Jazz wanted to be the big sister she's supposed to be and keep him safe, guard his wellbeing and all that. But Danny didn't want her to go.

"Jazz-"

"Let me help you!" Jazz hissed.

"I don't _want_ your help!" Danny spat, a little louder than necessary. He clamped his mouth shut, and his eyes widened at Jazz's expression. She looked unbelievably hurt, and were those tears?

"Fine," Jazz snapped and spun around, swiftly exiting the lab. Danny sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead, glaring at the ceiling. Of course he had to snap at her like that, but he didn't want to argue, and he knew she wouldn't give up. But that wasn't what he meant. He didn't want her in the Ghost Zone, the _most dangerous part_ of the Ghost Zone. It was bad enough that Sam would be going, not to mention _other people_ that he'd have to protect. He didn't like that Tucker had broken his arm, but in a way he was relieved, because it meant his best friend wouldn't be going with them.

Danny just wouldn't be able to deal with that. If his best friend, girlfriend, and sister were all going? He'd spend more time panicking about their safety then looking for Frostbite.

He felt small arms wrap around his neck and looked down at Dani, who was floating to be closer to his height. Sam was standing beside them with a pitying smirk on her face.

"That was stupid," Danny said.

"Yep," Sam answered.

"She's mad."

"Uh-huh." Dani nodded into his chest.

"I'm an idiot."

"Yeah," the girls chorused. Danny groaned, finally returning Danielle's hug and transforming back into Fenton. Due to their proximity, and Danny's superior powers, Danielle ended up changing back too and he had to catch her.

"Uh, Sam? Do you think you could?" Danny made a vague gesture with his free hand, but it was all the Goth needed.

"Yeah, I'll talk to her." Sam smirked again and followed Jazz. As she left, Dani lifted her head to watch her go. Danny could plainly see the longing in her eyes and immediately felt guilty. Danielle wanted, more than anything, for Sam to learn the truth. She wanted her mother. But Danny wasn't ready, not yet. He was a phantom of secrets. He was used to dealing with things on his own, hiding things from others. It should have gotten easier, after revealing what was once his biggest secret to the people closest to him. That was nothing compared to the things he kept now. Well, not nothing. But learning he was half ghost would hardly compare to learning Vlad's true fate, or what really happened to Operative N.

Danny shuddered at the thought.

"We still have an hour or two before patrol. Want to practice using your abilities in human form?" Danny asked, feeling desperate.

Danielle looked back to Dani, her gaze remaining wistful for a moment longer before replying. "Okay!"

Danny heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of his daughter's smile.

* * *

Jazz Fenton was sitting at her desk, staring at her open notebook. Her original plan, after retreating to her room and drying her eyes, was to study. It was her solution to a lot of things, but it wasn't probing a very satisfying distraction at the moment.

Danny was unbelievably smart, but as his sister, Jazz reserved the right to decide he could be incredibly dense sometimes. He may not realize it, but he needed Jazz's help. She had been hoping to talk to her brother after the Battle, about his secrets, about his time protecting Amity Park on his own. But every time she approached the subject, he would casually divert the conversation, or suddenly have to leave. It was frustrating, but Danny had always been a little reserved. Jazz thought, now that they knew his secret, he would get a little better and share with them more. The exact opposite happened instead, actually.

It took a while for Jazz to see it, because Danny was actually a really good liar. She didn't know when that happened. He used to always stutter and mumble and come with the most obvious things when he was lying, but at some point he'd become really good at it. It really bothered Jazz that she hadn't noticed before.

Danny was still hiding something, something very important. Jazz was going to figure out what, and going into the Ghost Zone would be one of the best ways to do so. She had done a lot of research on ghosts, and they're typically more comfortable inside the Ghost Zone. Which should be obvious, considering they can only survive a finite amount of time outside of it. But Danny was only half ghost, meaning he didn't need to reside in the Ghost Zone. But it would still be good for him, and probably make him more relaxed.

That _would_ have given Jazz the opportunity to question him while he's in a relaxed state. Danny might have been more open or willing. But he was too stubborn to let her go.

Jazz stood up and glanced out her bedroom window into the yard below. Danny and Danielle were in the tiny backyard, firing small bursts of ectoplasm at targets hanging from trees. The high fences, and the lack of windows on the buildings around them, ensured that they wouldn't be seen.

Danny used to sneak out all the time—although now they knew it was because he was fighting ghosts. Jazz had at first attributed it to Danny entering his teenage rebellion years something she never really thought her brother would have. But, in a way, it was rebellious behaviour that instigated _everything_. Going in to the lab, which he was expressly forbidden from entering. Toying with an unfinished invention which he wasn't allowed to touch. Going out and fighting ghosts when their parents hadn't even wanted Jazz to do that yet. Danny got to have his little rebellious streak, but Jazz didn't. She was always the studious, good natured one.

"I think, little brother," Jazz turned away from the window, "that I'm going to take a lesson from you."

She snuck out of her bedroom and crept into Danny's, moving immediately to the stockpile of supplies shoved into the corner of his room.

Once Jazz's task was complete, she went to make a swift exit, but paused at the doorway. On his bookshelf, stuffed between a detailed manuscript about space travel, and a box filled with loose bits of wire and metal, was an orange bottle. Curious, she pulled it from the shelf and scanned the label.

It was a prescription bottle, clearly made out to one Daniel Fenton. The instructions, rather than stating the traditional one or two pills a day, read to take one when experiencing pain. Jazz frowned. She didn't remember Danny ever being prescribed pain medication, but it looked official enough.

She scanned the label once more, memorizing the medication name to look up later.

Demirol.

* * *

Ghosts were quickly becoming an epidemic. It was an opinion shared by the vast majority of the GIW. Operative O was proud to exclude himself from that number. Ghosts weren't inherently evil, they weren't all bent on taking over the world, destroying all living things. Very few were, even if they were evil. He'd witnessed the goodness of ghosts not too long ago, when he'd fought alongside them. Going from that, to waving at one if he saw it on the street, wasn't that big of a stretch.

Operative O was seated in his office, reviewing the day's reports. Only one ghost was sighted that day, a friendly, no need to be apprehended.

When he had been given the position of operative in charge in Amity Park, he was extremely relieved. Operative O had visited the town on a few occasions before taking part in its private war, and rather like the place. The people were interesting, and the ghosts even more so. His first task when he'd heard the news was to handpick the operatives that would be stationed in Amity, enforcing the so called Anti-Ecto Act, which really meant very little everywhere else in the world.

The act stated the GIW were within their legal rights to apprehend and detain any spectral entity with any means necessary, all for the sake of preserving public wellbeing. To be frank, it was a load of shit. The higher ups were unsatisfied with their recent findings on ghostly abilities, and didn't like how severely they were lacking in knowledge. Operative O knew they just wanted subjects to experiment on, like that Freakshow fellow. And he wasn't even a ghost.

By choosing who would be working under him, O would know that his operatives would be loyal and obedient. That way no innocent ghosts would be subjected to a cell and daily proddings in the GIW headquarters. So far, they hadn't actually apprehended any ghosts. By the time any GIW operatives arrived on the scene, either Danny Phantom, or Danny Fenton and his band of Ghostketeers had already taken care of the threat and returned it to the Ghost Zone.

O was honestly a little thankful for that.

He enjoyed his job, but understood full well that sometimes, the GIW just went too far. They were arrogant, as secret government organizations tended to be. But things were going well. The higher ups were angry at the lack of results, of course. They wanted subjects, and Amity Park was the best place to get them. But, as Operative O stated whenever he made his own official reports, he couldn't stop local ghost hunters from getting to their prey first.

He always had to resist the urge to smirk when he said that. As long as Danny, either one really, was in Amity Park, everyone would be safe. Human and ghost alike


	6. Into the Zone

“Enjoy your break, and don’t forget to do your homework!”

The teacher’s reminder was met with scattered groans as the final bell rang. Danny ignored it all as he stuffed his books into his backpack. Tomorrow morning they would leave for the Ghost Zone. Danny double, triple, and quadruple checked the backpacks stacked in the corner of his bedroom, along with the FBRs – Fenton Booster Rockets. Danny just couldn’t resist – to make sure they were ready. He only had one thing left to do.

Danny dug into the bottom of his bag and grabbed the small orange bottle stuffed beneath his books. It was empty. His first prescription lasted nearly three months. Usually he only took one after a particularly nasty ghost battle, but his chest pain would occasionally flare up and force him to down a second pill. The refill only lasted half as long. Any time Danny felt a twinge of pain, he felt his fingers twitching towards the bottle. He resisted for the most part. But after a particularly bad night, when Jazz almost walked in on him digging a blade into his thigh, he opted for pills over knives as much as possible. They both had the same effect, numbing his pain and distracting him from the real problem.

“Hey, dude.”

Danny almost jumped at Tucker’s sudden approach, and hastily shoved the bottle back into his backpack and zipped it up.

“What’s up?” Danny asked causally, hoisting the bag over his shoulder.

“Tonight’s still on, right?”

“Yeah, of course. You and Sam can start heading over to Fenton Works. I just have to stop by somewhere first.” Danny’s hand tightened around the strap of his bag. Tucker noticed, but didn’t say anything, simply grinning instead.

“Cool. Want us to come with?”

“No, it’s fine. Besides, I think Dani wanted to ask you something about that PDA you gave her.” Danny shrugged off the offer, itching to make his getaway. He could tell Tucker knew something was up, but neither of them were willing to approach the subject head on.

“Okay. I guess we’ll see you there.” Tucker gave his own half-hearted shrug, barely hiding the skepticism in his eyes, and followed the other students out the door. Danny sighed in relief and waited until the classroom was empty before heading out himself. He made a beeline for the bathroom and transformed after checking that it was empty.

Turning invisible and intangible, he rose up through the ceiling and shot across the sky. Danny landed on the roof of the hospital not even a minute later. He paced across the red H of the helicopter pad several times before stopping and closing his eyes. He concentrated on the building beneath his feet, focusing on the wiring within. Green electricity sparked across Danny’s chest and surged downwards, into the building. He couldn’t see it, but he knew all the lights within would flash green, for just a moment. Half the people inside wouldn’t even notice, but he only needed one person to see.

Danny watched the door leading onto the roof, waiting for the moment it would open. He didn’t have to wait long. A nurse in pale green scrubs with red hair stepped into view. She looked around the roof, spotted Danny, and smiled.

“Here for a refill already?” The nurse asked. She sounded worried, but Danny swore he could almost see a smile on her face. He nodded and pulled the bottle out of his backpack.

“How’s the pain been?” The nurse took the bottle from his hand.

“Manageable, I’ve only been taking one.”

“You went through them awfully fast. Are you sure it’s not getting worse?”

“No.” Danny shook his head.

“More frequent?”

“Not that either. I was just, um, it was a substitute,” Danny explained lamely. He didn’t want to reveal everything to this nurse, but knew it was important.

“Good.” The nurse nodded, surprising Danny. She was smiling again, and she looked genuinely pleased. “If you’re in any kind of pain, don’t hesitate to take them. It’ll help, and it’s what they’re meant for.”

“Isn’t it sort of bad, though? Taking so many?”

“Trust me, it’s fine. This prescription is a little larger, so don’t worry about it. Come back as soon as it’s empty.”

Danny nodded, taking the new bottle. He still wasn’t entirely convinced. He didn’t know lots about the field of medicine, mostly just the first-aid required to fix his wounds after fighting ghosts. But it was usually common knowledge that some medicines can be addictive, and need to be taken in moderation. The pills he was taking, Demerol, were one of those medicines.

He shook the bottle once, hearing the pills rattle around, and dropped it into his backpack. _Now_ he ready for the Ghost Zone.

…

“Dude, when did you have time to do all this?” Tucker asked. He was standing before the pile of FBRs and backpacks in the corner of Danny’s room. He picked up one of the booster rockets and started strapping it on.

“The ability to duplicate has its benefits,” Danny said with a grin. “I go to school, the duplicate works here. But I lost focus a lot, so most of them disappeared pretty quickly. It took a couple weeks.”

“Dude, it’s still awesome.” Tucker fumbled with the last buckle, not an easy task with one arm immobile. He looked doubtfully at the backpacks. “One problem. If you’re wearing these, how can you…”

The question died in his mouth as a teasing grin spread across his face. Danny was sitting cross legged at the end of his bed, brushing shoulders with Sam, who was focused intently on the book in her hands. Danielle, in her ghost form, was in the air above them, lying flat and resting her folded arms on Danny’s head with her eyes closed.

Tucker’s grin widened when Danny just raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Danny asked.

“Um, nothing. So how’re you gonna put on a backpack, if you’re already wearing this?” Tucker asked.

“I won’t be wearing an FBR. But it’s not rocket science anyways.” Danny gave a cocky grin while Sam and Dani simultaneously smacked him.

“That was horrible,” Sam said without pulling her eyes from the page.

“So bad,” Danielle mumbled into her arms.

Danny just laughed and transformed while the girls shuddered from the cool rings. He pointed at one of the backpacks, and it was enveloped in a green glow. The bag lifted off the floor and floated towards Tucker. The techno geek stumbled as the extra weight settled on his shoulders. He strained his neck, trying to look behind him.

“What’d you do?”

“Amazingly, I already dealt with this problem. The FDR has more space between the rockets than the X-23 so the backpack can fit. There are three clasps on each backpack, and three hooks in the FDRs,” Danny answered.

“Oh. I thought it’d be more interesting.” Tucker’s shoulders slumped and he started the struggle of removing the FDR. Danny watched him fumble for a few seconds before sighing and helping. The buckles glowed green and opened, the whole thing smoothly sliding from his shoulders.

“Thanks. How come you had to change to do that?” Tucker asked.

“I can only use telekinesis in my ghost form. It requires more ghostly energy.”

“More ghostly energy than flying or ectoblasts?”

“Surprisingly, both of those require very little ectoplasmic manipulation as long as I keep it simple. Possession actually uses more. My telekinesis is actually like possession of inanimate objects, which needs more precision and control than normal possession,” Danny explained.

“I can’t do it yet.” Danielle pouted, finally opening her eyes.

“But you will. You’re ninety-nine percent me, after all.” Danny smiled and reached up, grabbing Danielle’s shoulders and pulling her forwards. Danielle shrieked and dropped from the air, landing in Danny’s lap.

“Daddy!” Danielle protested as she started to laugh uncontrollably. “S-stop tickling m-me! Uncle T-tuck, help!”

Danny gave Tucker a warner glare.

“Yeah, no. I’d rather not get attacked by a protective halfa.” Tucker backed away, raising his mobile arm.

“Oh, come on.” Sam jabbed Danny’s shoulder. “Stop it, you’re torturing her. We need to start patrol, anyways.”

“Okay, fine. Let’s go.”

“Yay!” Danielle shot into the air and flew out Danny’s window. She returned a second later. “Hurry up, slow pokes.”

“Last one there is Klemper’s best friend!” Danny shouted and followed his daughter.

“Hey, not fair!” Tucker called after them. The two halfa’s laughed and hovered above the sidewalk, waiting for whoever would be first out the door. Unsurprisingly, it was Sam. She marched down the steps, blaster resting on her shoulder, with a Fenton Thermos at her hip.

“So not fair, she shut the door in my face!” Tucker complained when he stepped out a minute later.

“You were too slow. Klemper’s your new best friend.” Danielle giggled as she rose into the air.

“Please don’t tell him that!” Tucker begged.

Danielle paused, as if pondering the question. “I’ll think about it.”

“I won’t promise anything. Ember could use a break from that guy,” Danny said. “Hurry up, we’re burning nightlight.”

“You’re horrible,” Tucker grumbled as they set off down the street.

“My jokes, or my lack of a promise?” Danny asked.

“Pick one.”

“I choose to firmly believe you love my jokes. Now and forever.”

“I’m so sorry, Dani. At least you can blame a poor sense of humour on genetics.” Sam sighed heavily. Danny laughed softly, flying up to be level with the rooftops and watching the activity below him. Danielle flying in loops, doing barrel rolls, and any other trick she could think of. Occasionally she would swoop down and snatch Tucker’s hat off his head.

In response, Tucker would shout and jump up, even though Danielle was well out of his reach. Sam would laugh at them both and elbow Tucker a little harder than necessary.

That’s what ghost patrol was now. It was joking with friends, spending time with family. It was _fun_. Everything it hadn’t been in his year of solitude.

Everything it could have been if he’d shared his secret a little sooner.

Danny was happy. But somewhere, in the back of his mind, he still wished no one knew.

 ...

It’s never a good idea to laugh at the school bully, especially when they’re bigger and stronger than you. But even before Morgan’s unjust reckoning, she hardly had good ideas. For this reason, she had no misgivings when she laughed in Dash’s face. How could she not? It was just too fun to watch someone of his bulk struggle with strapping on one of Danny’s FDRs. The buckles were still a good three inches apart and just didn’t want to get any closer.

Morgan didn’t even bother to try and stifle it. The first time Dash’s struggles lacked any positive result, she grinned. The second time, she giggled. The third time she leaned forwards, clutching her stomach, and let loose.

“You wanna shut up?” Dash growled.

“No, not at all.” Morgan’s grin widened and she leaned back. Perched on one of the miraculously clear lab tables, she had a perfect view of the humorous spectacle.

Dash shot her a dark glare, and tried for possibly the eighth time to force the buckles together.

“Think I should tell him?” Danny asked, floating in the air above everyone.

“Give it a minute,” Sam said with a grin. Danny nodded and stepped back, perfectly happy with watching his number one tormentor struggle for a few minutes. Jazz, however, didn’t find the scenario as enjoyable as the others did. She gave them all a sisterly, disapproving look before focusing on Dash.

“You can adjust the straps,” Jazz said, pointing to the slider on each side.

“Yeah, Dashiel. Adjust the straps.” Morgan stood up on the table, jutting out a hip, and started toying with the slider on her own FDR. “It’s not rocket science.”

“Oh, no,” Sam groaned and dropped her face into her hands. “There’s two of you.”

“Now and forever,” Danny teased.

“It’s almost eight. Aren’t you guys supposed to be going?” Jazz asked, facing Danny. He winced. He’d been avoiding his sister ever since their fight and hadn’t had a proper conversation with her since.

“Uh, yeah. We should probably go.” Danny nodded and floated away from her, towards the Ghost Portal. “Is everyone ready?”

“Of course,” Dash scoffed, despite not being ready mere seconds ago.

Sam rolled her eyes and hoisted her gun. “Yep.”

Morgan powered up her booster rocket and jumped from the table, folding her legs in. The rockets kicked in just as her knees brushed the metal floor and shot her several feet in the air. Morgan cut the engine and dropped down right in front of the portal.

“Ready!”

“Right. Then we should get going.” Danny pressed his thumb to the genetic lock on the portal doors and stepped back as they opened. He gave Jazz a furtive glance and rubbed the back of his neck. “Make sure Dani doesn’t get in any big fights. She overestimates herself sometimes.”

Danny opened his mouth, about to say more. Apologize, maybe. Instead he glared at his feet and turned away, flying through the portal.

“He’s an idiot. He was doing this for a year on his own, and he doesn’t know how to do it with people. I’ll talk to him, and he’ll be sorry when we get back,” Sam reassured the redhead.

“Right, when we, uh, you get back.” Jazz nodded. “Good luck.”

“Thanks. See you in a week at most.” Sam smiled and jumped into the portal after her boyfriend. Morgan and Dash were right behind her, with the blue-haired teen shoving the larger jock along.

Jazz watched the swirling portal for over a minute before she moved. She ran over to the table Morgan had been sitting on and quickly scribbling out a note on a stray pad of paper. Rushing to the other side of the room, Jazz grabbed the backpack she’d stowed in one of the cupboards. She couldn’t fly like Danny, and she didn’t have an FDR like Sam, Dash, or Morgan. But Jazz had become some form of friends with Princess Dorathea, bonding over their sisterly affection for Danny.

Pulling a Fenton Phone from the backpack, Jazz made sure it was set to specific frequency and put it on.

“They left about two minutes ago. I’m heading through the portal now.” Jazz didn’t wait for a response. She knew Dora was listening. Securing her backpack, she marched forwards with purpose and stepped through the portal.

For a moment, she didn’t think she’d made it through the portal and was stuck in the swirling vortex. Danny and the others had told her a bit about the Ghost Zone, but hearing about it was very different from seeing it. There was no sky or ground. Everything was a swirling green, and purple masses of land and doors floated in the distance. Danny explained the green tinge in the distance was because of all the ectoplasm in the air. It wasn’t in the distance at all, she was standing in it. But because of the distribution, the area around her seemed clear. It was like being in a flat, open field on a day with light fog. The fog is still around you, but you only see it in the distance.

Jazz was distracted from the eerie beauty of the Ghost Zone by the stomp of hooves. She spun around and gazed at the ghostly beast before her. A pale blue horse stood at the edge of the portal island, ebony eyes focused on her. Jazz stepped forwards slowly, resting a hand on its dark main.

“You must be Bellefire,” she said. The horse seemed to neigh in response. Bellefire was apparently Danny’s horse. Sort of. He’d ridden it for the first time when they were trapped in the Ghost Zone during the invasion, and the horse had taken up residence in Danny’s lair ever since. Jazz figured that would be the group’s first stop on their journey, and she could meet up with them there.

Jazz was determined, she would get through to Danny. If tagging along on a dangerous journey into the Banished Lands was the only way, so be it.


	7. Compatible

Sam had been to Sable only once before, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Kraeva had kidnapped and tortured her. She glanced at the scars littered across her exposed skin. When it came down to it, Kraeva could have done a lot worse. Instead he was almost teasing. Sam figured that’s all it had been. Just another thing that would rile Danny up to challenge him. It didn’t matter now. Kraeva was gone and her wounds were healed. But it bothered her a lot that she’d been used like that. Sam had remained strong throughout the whole situation but Danny was the one hurt in the end.

“Sam, you okay?”

The Goth blinked and looked to her left. Danny was flying beside her, the light of the Ghost Zone exaggerating his ghostly aura. She’d tried to touch it once. It wasn’t tangible, but the air surrounding Danny in his ghost form was always a few degrees cooler and made sparks jump across your skin.

“Yeah, just distracted.” Sam shrugged, turning to focus on their destination. They hadn’t flown for long, but already the dark castle was in sight. It was Sam’s first good view of the castle’s exterior and she was sufficiently pleased. Dora had explained to her how this particular lair first. It belonged to whoever was the current king of the Ghost Zone, and its appearance was influenced by the owner’s desires. She appreciated the obvious Gothic influence in the outer architecture. There were a few noticeably Greek and medieval additions that probably made Dora and Pandora smile.

Sam’s focus turned to the garden and she grinned. She found it funny that the women in Danny’s life had such a big influence on him.

“You’re laughing, should I be worried?” Danny teased.

“Shut up, I can laugh,” Sam retorted, blushing lightly.

“Promise I won’t tell Tucker,” Danny said.

“Cross your heart?”

“And hope to finish dying.” Danny traced an X over his heart, grinning at his own joke. Sam snorted, shaking her head, and pressed a button on the strap of her booster to go faster. The FBR was surprisingly easy to maneuver. There were three buttons, to increase power, decrease power, and turn the rocket on and off. The rest was about control, which could be problematic for some people. Sam yelped and jerked upwards, rising several feet, as Dash tumbled past her. His flight was shaky, full of unintentional twists and flips.

Sam was willing to admit she’d had a bit of trouble at first, but quickly got the hang of it. Morgan had no problems at all, the only person she couldn’t fly circles around was Danny.

As they approached Sable’s island, Sam shifted and rolled so her back faced the ground before leaning forwards. The maneuver successfully aimed her feet downwards so she could land with ease, just as Danny instructed them to do on the flight over. Dash face planted, having cut his engines before properly positioning himself, while Morgan simply decreased the power on her rocket to let her hover.

“Why are we here?” Dash asked gruffly, mustering his dignity after the poor landing.

“Pit stop. We won’t be here long, and I want you guys to get used to the Ghost Zone’s atmosphere, as well as moving in it. Here, humans are the ghosts. If you’re not careful, you could end up falling through something.”

“We didn’t do that last time,” Dash said with an annoyed frown.

“Last time, we were in a hurry to rescue Sam, and you guys spent most the trip in the Fenton Speeder. It maintains the internal atmosphere of the human world,” Danny explained as he ascended the castle stairs. He paused on the top step, looking to one of the stone phantoms overlooking the castle doors. The blade of its scythe was stained a dark green, and the cloak draped over its shoulder’s bore several large tears. He gave the statue an almost defiant stare and entered his lair. His steps left frosted footprints on the stone, which Morgan made a show of following closely.

“You said we can fall through stuff, what does that – !” Morgan’s question was cut off by a yelp of surprise, and Danny turned expecting to see her halfway through the ground. Instead it was Sam on her hands and knees, slowly sinking into the floor.

“That’s how.” Danny grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled her back up. “The first few months with my powers, stuff like that happened all the time. I’d go intangible, invisible, or start floating without any warning.”

“So that’s what was happening when we thought you were ditched us all first year,” Sam said, regaining her composure.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck and gave his girlfriend a nervous grin.

“I guess I can forgive you,” Sam sighed in feigned exasperation.

“Oh, thank goodness. I might have done something drastic if you didn’t,” Danny said.

“Loser love,” Dash scoffed.

“Says the guy who doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Sam spoke with disdain. “Or boyfriend, if you swing that way.”

“Which I don’t.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.” Sam shrugged

“We’re only gonna be here for a few minutes. Try and walk through a wall without falling through the floor. Even better, try flying without the FBRs. I have something I need to do.” Danny gave his human companions a jaunty wave and teleported away. Sam blinked away spots as the light faded and sighed. It seemed like Danny would always have his secrets

…

For once, Danny’s slip away hadn’t actually been for secrecy. What he needed was quiet, which he rightly doubted he would find while around Morgan and Dash. The castle of Sable had only one tower, which overlooked the courtyard garden. With a bright flash of light, he appeared in the tower’s topmost room. Rather than having walls, there were seven thin columns holding up the white stone ceiling. Thin veils curtained the open spaces, but could be tied back to the columns. There were three low torches emitting a soft green light, casting Danny’s elongated shadow over pale cushion in the middle of the room, the only furnishing to be found.

It was Danny’s meditation room, and the single most Greek influenced location in the entire castle. There was actually an almost identical room somewhere in Pandora’s acropolis.

Danny seated himself on the plush cushion, legs crossed and eyes closed. He had only one goal to accomplish during their brief pause at Sable. Try to contact the Ancient. Clockwork had been teaching the halfa more about the relationship between the King of Ghosts and the ancient beings ever since the purpose of his role had been revealed. There was a lot to know. The relationship was fairly one-sided, with the Ancients choosing their King without consult or consent, bestowing power when they see fit, but for the most part remaining a silent force. One of the most recent things Danny learned was that he could contact the Ancients through meditation. It wasn’t guaranteed to work, but he was determined, and the power of the Ancients could come in handy in the banished lands.

Nothing happened at first. The halfa sat perfectly still, hardly even breathing, as he concentrated on the tendril of power connecting him to the Ancients. In his mind, Danny saw a vast darkness illuminated by a pale string. He pictured himself reaching towards it, tentative at first, cautiously probing the powerful connection deep within him.

Outside his mind, Danny’s aura pulsed in long, low beats. Dimming almost to nonexistence before strong, and fading again. He slowly floated off the cushion. Sparks jumped his skin to the floor, skittering across the pale stone before fizzling out. He could feel a tingling at the back of his neck and new it must have been working. As he teased the connection, Danny heard the call of the Zone itself and let his mind sink into the chaos. He could feel everything, every ghost scattered across the plane of existence, every fading echo of beings long lost to the void, and the dull roar of ancient and eternal powers.

Danny focused upon the dull roar, calling on its source, when a sharp cry disturbed him. The fearful shout of allies awaiting rescue. His connection broke, and the roar started to fade. He tried to latch onto the power he’d been following, but it slipped away from him. Desperate, he focused on the yetis’ calls, reaching for the ghost that had trained him.

A ghostly wasteland flashed before his eyes, with crumbling islands and shattered lairs. He glimpsed a hulking figure with a limb of ice before everything was lost.

Danny returned to reality with a sharp gasp and dropped from the air. He hunched over, clutching his chest, as the crackling energy that had been building up within his being was released all at once. Spears of ice shot out from the ground surrounding him, followed by a surge of electricity that shattered the spikes.

Danny punched the ground in frustration, ignoring the sound of marble cracking beneath his fist. He’d been distracted by Frostbite’s call for help and lost concentration. If he’d stayed focused, he might have made contact with Ancients. If not that, he could properly shifted his attention to the yeti king. But Danny didn’t have enough experience in all things kingly to maintain that level of focus while immersed in the Ghost Zone. He wanted to try again, but knew it was about time for them to leave. He didn’t want to put off the rescue any longer than necessary.

Danny flew from the meditation room and down into the garden. He placed a hand on the trunk of the weeping willow as he passed and walked through the archway that led into the throne room. During his grand showdown with Kraeva they had busted through the wall. Rather than repair it, Danny turned it into entrance, since there hadn’t been one from the throne room before. As he suspected, Sam and the others had eventually found their way here.

Morgan was showing off her affinity for the Ghost Zone by jumping through the pillars lining the grand hall. Her jumps gained a surprising amount of air, and her descent was lagging. Danny saw the abandoned FBR and grinned. Morgan would probably be able to fly in the Ghost Zone in no time. Dash was sticking his hand through the wall, struggling to keep his feet from sinking into the floor. Danny had to admit the jock wasn’t doing too badly.

Sam sat upon Danny’s throne legs thrown over one of the arm rests with her head propped up in one hand, and appeared to be sulking.

“Something wrong?” Danny asked.

Sam squeaked in surprise and jumped, swinging her legs around to sit correctly. She must have been really deep in thought, since Danny had approached her from the front.

“I can’t get the hang of it. I tried to put my hand through the wall, and my feet went through the floor. This is the only place I don’t starting falling through stuff,” Sam admitted with an annoyed scowl.

“Furniture in Sable is both ghost and human proof. No one can phase through it,” Danny explained. He sat down on the armrest formerly occupied by his girlfriend’s feet, and Sam leaned against him. “Obviously different people have different affinities for ghost stuff.”

“Morgan’s good, Dash is even okay, and I suck?” Sam asked.

“Think of it this way, my accident would have killed a normal person.” Danny’s breath hitched even as he mentioned his half-death. The panic attacks from his death day had stopped, but that didn’t make the subject any less sore.

“I’m sorry, Danny.”

“For what?”

“For making you bring it up,” Sam said, hugging her knees.

“Hey, I’m King of the Ghost Zone, remember? I’m tough. But I’m really surprised you can’t do this stuff. You’re supposed to have a great affinity for this stuff.”

“What makes you say that?” Sam asked, giving Danny a quizzical look. The halfa realized his mistake and quickly scrambled for some kind of excuse that wouldn’t lead her anywhere near a DNA test.

“Undergrowth!” Danny burst out, a little louder than necessary. Sam’s eyebrow crawled up her forehead, and he elaborated. “When Undergrowth first came to Amity. Everyone was really hazy about what happened, remember? That’s because of the spores he released. But He sort of, um, claimed you as his daughter and gave you plant related ghost powers to, to take care of the ‘children’.”

“Oh.” Sam blinked in surprise. As Danny said, no remembered much of that week. Just that a plant loving ghost had attacked, and Danny Phantom saved the day as always.

“He first picked you because you were sort of ranting about the bad influence of the human population on nature. He agreed.” Danny chuckled. “But the ghost powers thing, it wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t have an affinity.”

He nodded slowly, deciding his explanation was reasonably acceptable. It probably wasn’t a lie either.

“And now?”

“Undergrowth’s involvement could have messed something up, ruining your affinity. Because even if you weren’t ‘ghost compatible’, you still should have Dash’s skill level.”

“You better be right, ghost boy,” Sam said. A sly grin spread across her face.

“What? It’s not my fault, it’s Undergrowth’s!” Danny protested, knowing that smile never meant anything good.

“But I can’t punch Undergrowth, can I? Not after Ember and Klemper double teamed him.”

“I wish I could have seen that,” said Danny wistfully. First because he rarely saw Klemper fight seriously, and the overly friendly ghost actually had a pretty powerful cold core. And second because Ember had promised to be Klemper’s friend. Danny had yet to see the two ghosts at the same time, since Ember was doing everything to avoid Klemper, she’d promised there was lots of annoying clinging during one of her rants. Danny had been delighted.

“I’m sure Dorathea’s already told you the full story.”

“Many times, but it’s just not the same.”

“Oh, poor you.”

“Poor me.” Danny nodded with a smile, then raised his voice so their companions could hear. “We should be heading out now. The sooner we’re done here, the sooner we get home.”

“Yes!” Morgan said, pumping her fist. She lunged for her FBR and swung it onto her shoulders, blasting into the air and maintaining a hover several feet above their heads. She hung there for several seconds before turning and phasing through the closest wall.

“Does she know that most of the walls in Sable are human proof?” Sam asked, powering up her own FBR.

“I doubt it.” Danny shook his head. “We’ll meet you outside.”

He followed Morgan through the wall, and wasn’t at all surprised to see her sitting dazed in the middle of the hallway, holding her head.

“Your wall is broken,” Morgan mumbled, rising unsteadily to her feet with Danny’s help.

“The wall is phase proof. You should be more concerned about your head.”

“’M fine,” the blue-haired girl insisted. “Just, no more walls.”

“Sure. This will be faster anyways.” Danny grinned, grabbing her shoulder.

“Oh, wait no, not –”

“–that!” Morgan stumbled as Danny teleported them outside of Sable, clutching her stomach. “I’m gonna hurl.”

Morgan ran to the edge of floating island and flopped onto her stomach, hands pressed to her mouth. Nothing happened for several seconds, and she slowly sat up. “I’m good!”

“Good, because we need to go.” Danny flew upwards, and the others followed. Dash must have practiced while the halfa was meditating, because his flight wasn’t so shaky now. Morgan was obviously still affected by the teleportation and bump to the head and avoided to any tricks as she joined them in the sky.

They had barely flown a hundred metres when Danny heard a shout. He turned, expecting either a ghost to be attacking, or for someone to be falling from the sky. Instead he saw a familiar blue, ghostly horse running towards them. Its rider had been the one to shout.

“Wait!”

Danny froze, instantly recognizing the voice. “Bellefire!”

The ghost horse whinnied and increased its speed, and his rider yelped. Bellefire came to a stop in front of Danny, huffing and stomping on the open air. Danny ran his hand along the loyal animal’s mane, then glared at the rider.

“Wow, why didn’t you go that fast for me?” The young woman asked, leaning over Bellefire’s neck.

“Jazz, what are you doing here?” Danny asked.

Jazz steeled her gaze, lifting her head and sitting upright. “I’m helping.”


	8. The Tomb

The staring contest had been going on for about three minutes now, making the other members of their party a little uncomfortable. Jazz was still perched on Bellefire’s back, but leaned over his neck to glare at her brother, while Danny absently patted the horse’s mane. Sam, standing next to Danny, had a hand on his arm to remind him to stay calm, and Dash’s gaze flitted back and forth between the two siblings. Morgan, as if oblivious to the tension, simply flew in circles above them.

“Go home Jazz,” Danny commanded. A flicker of hurt passed through her eyes, making Danny feel guilty, but it was necessary.

“No,” Jazz answered firmly.

“You’re supposed to be taking care of Dani.” Danny knew it was a bit of a low blow, but it was true. He’d tasked his sister with taking care of his daughter, and now here Jazz was, completely disregarding his instructions.

“She’s with Mom and Dad.”

“I didn’t _want_ her with Mom and Dad,” Danny reminded her. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his parents, but they were scientists above all else, and still getting used to the fact that their son was half ghost, not to mention that he had a _clone_ that was also half ghost, and also his _daughter_. It was a confusing scenario, and any scientist worth their salt would be itching to run a few harmless tests, which could quickly escalate to ‘harmless’ ones.

“The call Tucker, and have Dani stay with him. I’m _not_ leaving. Something’s up with you lately, little brother, and it’s my job to find out what,” Jazz huffed.

“As my sister, or my psychologist?” Danny asked sarcastically.

“Both! You need my help, and I’m not going to stop until you can accept that!” Jazz shouted.

“I’m _not_ going to accept it, because I don’t _need_ help!” Danny shot back.

“The pills I found in your room say you do!”

“What were you-”

“Both of you, stop it!” Sam yelled, flying between the siblings and pushing them apart. “You Fentons are so stubborn.”

She grabbed Danny and they drifted away from the group. “You were the one who said we needed to get going, so here’s what we’re gonna do. _You_ are gonna suck it up at let Jazz tag along, because she’s not going to go back, and you’re not going to leave her. You’re gonna phone Tuck, or Valerie, and get one of them to pick up Danielle. As soon as we get back, you’re gonna tell me what the hell Jazz was talking about. Until then, the great General Danny Fenton of the Battle of Amity Park is gonna step up and find his friends.”

“ _Sam_.”

“ _No,_ Danny, be quiet. No arguing.”

Danny was about to argue again, when Sam slapped a hand over his mouth. She fixed him with stern glare, then flew towards Jazz. Danny watched as his girlfriend gave his sister her own fierce talking to. He wasn’t happy. In fact, he still wished he could be doing this all on his own. Jazz was only going to make things worse. Danny groaned in frustration.

Sam and Jazz were still talking, so Danny took his cellphone from one of his jumpsuit’s many pockets. He didn’t use them much because of how awkward it looked on a skin tight suit, but the suit was full of them. His parents were obsessed with hidden pouches. It was amazing how many compact weapons they managed to keep on themselves at all times.

Shaking his head, Danny dialed Val’s number. His phone had the same technology he’d given Danielle’s, so it worked just fine in most parts of the Ghost Zone. Certain areas, like the Far Frozen or Dora’s castle, had something about them that messed with technology not made there.

“ _Danny? Need my help already?”_ Valerie greeted smugly.

“No, no more _help_ ,” Danny muttered, shaking his head. “Can you pick up Danielle from Fenton Works, and bring her to Tucker’s?”

“ _Sure, why?_ ”

“Jazz was supposed to watch her, but she’s _here_ in the Ghost Zone instead.”

“ _Damn. Can I come too?_ ”

“No!” Danny shouted, then winced at how loud he was. He could feel Sam’s disapproving glare. “I don’t want a big group.”

“ _Okay. Good luck_.”

“Thanks.” Danny hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket before facing the others. Jazz was frowning slightly, but looked a little more relaxed. Sam tilted her head in his direction, and Danny smirked. That was obviously her cue for the ‘Great General’ to take over.

“We don’t have any extra FBRs, so you’ll have to stick with Bellefire. We’ll head towards the Far Frozen first, since it’s the closest lair to the banished lands. With our smaller group, and speed, it should only take us about two hours. Let’s try and keep it that way.” Danny gave Dash and Jazz stern looks, knowing that if anyone were to slow them down, it’d be one of those two.

“Okay, great. Now let’s _goooo_ ,” Morgan said, flying through the group and gesturing emphatically. She must have recovered from her collision, because she started barrel rolling.

“No follow the fairy, she’s going the wrong way.” Danny and Sam flew in the opposite direction.

“Who says I’m a fairy?” Morgan asked, quickly correcting her flight path.

“My daughter does.” Danny shrugged, and beside him Sam was laughing. She’d been there when Dani first made the comment, asking why Morgan’s hair was blue. It was easy to forget there were a lot of things the youngest halfa didn’t know.

Morgan smiled, spreading her arms and flapping them softly like wings. “I like it.”

…

It was a miracle, really. Over two hours of uninterrupted flight. The girls were the only ones talking. Sam tried to pull Danny into the conversation once or twice, but he kept his answers short. Sam was right, Fenton’s _were_ stubborn, and Danny was still mad at Jazz. Dash was silent the whole time, although it wasn’t actually that surprising. Surrounded by ‘losers’ – and Jazz – he was way out of his element. To them, he wasn’t the self-proclaimed King of Casper High. He was the bully, and now he was outnumbered by his prey.

All in all, Danny thought the situation would do some good for the jock. Maybe even take him down another notch, since finding out he was wailing on his hero didn’t seem to do it. Although, Danny could always try scaring him again.

“No!” Danny whispered sharply. He rapped his knuckles against his head, as if he could knock away the idea. Months ago he resorted to frightening Dash in order to bring him in line, and drive home the truth. Only Dash, Danny, and Paulina knew about the incident. And only Danny knew how much he’d really enjoyed it, and that scared him. He _wasn’t_ that kind of ghost, he _saved_ people. He _had_ to save people. But he hadn’t. In fact, he’d done the complete opposite of that. And he may as well have just stabbed Hayden himself too.

“ _No._ ” Danny grunted, trying to force the thoughts away. The ache in his chest grew, and he was itching to reach for the bottle in his backpack. But he’d have to wait for them to stop in order to do it inconspicuously, and that wouldn’t be for a while. Danny clenched his fists and ground his teeth. He could wait. He closed his eyes, forcing the pain to the back of his mind, and when he opened them saw they were fast approaching an expansive white lair.

Danny stared at the snowfields bordering the edges of the Far Frozen. The ring of mountains, which housed the ice-laden hallways, stood tall, if a bit more grey than normal. The others started flying higher, intent on passing over the mountains entirely. Danny dove towards the ground instead, zooming mere inches above the thick snowfall. He twisted, feeling his legs morph into a ghostly tail as he picked up speed, and ascended the mountainside. Bursting through a snow-capped peak, a flurry of white powder obscured his vision for a moment. Danny’s flight slowed as he took in the sight below him.

The stadium was the heart of Frostbite’s kingdom, and the only part of it that opened into free air. It was where Danny learned to master cryokinesis, and where the yetis participated in friendly tournaments. Flying over it usually provided a grand view and the sound of roaring crowds. But now? It was empty, and the ice was melted, leaving jagged stone stands, and crumbling rock walls. There were two entrances into the stadium, one leading to the main floor, and the other eating area. Even from his vantage point, Danny could see the water steadily trickling out of them, and at the foot of mountains water was pooling against the stadium walls. He could only imagine what the inside looked like. Everything would be flooded.

Without its owner, the lair was falling apart. If they didn’t rescue Frostbite and the others soon, there might not be nothing for them to come back to.

“Danny.”

The halfa turned slowly, only just noticing that he’d stopped, and the others were hovering on the other side of the mountain range. Sam flew up to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulder, kissing him briefly.

“We’ll rescue them,” Sam reassured him. Her hands dropped to his, and she started tugging him away. Danny let himself be pulled, but he didn’t drag his eyes away from the crumbling lair until he’d passed over the mountains again.

“So, where do we go now?” Dash asked, speaking for the first time since Jazz joined them.

“The banished lands. Frostbite calls the Ghost Zone the Infinite Realms, it never ends. But the area around the banished lands is completely empty. After this, there’s between it and us,” Danny explained, motioning to the vast expanse of green before them. They couldn’t see any hints of the banished lands, not that they’d know what to look for anyways.

“How far is it?” Morgan asked.

“No idea.”

“We just start flying?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Oh.”

“Getting scared?” Dash sneered.

Danny rolled his eyes as the exchange continued, with Morgan snapping back at the jock. Maybe he’d overestimated Dash’s ability to realize his place. He’d try and give it some time before resorting to scare tactics.

“While you were sweeping up garbage, I was in the thick of things!” Morgan shouted. In the span of a few seconds, the argument had escalated greatly.

“No fighting!” Danny commanded, slipping between them and pushing both back, similar to what Sam had done earlier.

“Yeah, that’s their job,” the Goth muttered, gesturing to the Fenton siblings. Danny ignored the jab.

“We’re gonna be stuck together for a while. We can’t have fights constantly breaking out,” he reminded them.

“You guys fought first,” Sam whispered in a sing song voice.

“Really Sam? Not helping.”

“This time, I’m not trying to.”

Danny was about to shoot her an offended expression when he noticed her grin. This wasn’t just her way of reminding Danny he needed to have a proper talk with Jazz – although that probably paid a big part of it – but she was trying to bring up his mood, after seeing the Far Frozen. He smiled in thanks.

“I’m sure we’re all getting tired of hearing this, but let’s go,” Sam said. Morgan raised a hand ticked off three fingers.

“I really hope it doesn’t need to be said two more times. And by Dash, really?” Danny asked, shaking his head at the blue-haired girl. Morgan just shrugged, and they started flying again.

…

Never before had Jazz wished she’d taken riding lessons as a little girl. Her interests had always been focused on psychology. But now, after riding Bellefire for hours, she was starting to get sore. It didn’t help that the ghostly stallion seemed to be getting skittish, tossing his head and fighting against Jazz’s control ever now and then. He was starting to slow down, and she gently urged him to go faster. She quickly caught up with the others, and found herself behind Danny.

When they were younger, Jazz always considered herself a good big sister. She defended her brother whenever one of their parents ectoplasmically altered concoctions they called a meal attacked. She took care of him when their parents were occupied with their work, and used to always try and make Christmas, Danny’s least favourite holiday, at least a little bit fun. Although she rarely ever succeeded on the last point.

But everything changed after the accident. He became aloof, brushed of Jazz’s concerns, and outright rejected her nurturing attempts. She knew the reason for all of that now, of course. Danny had been struggling and afraid, and his attempts at protecting the people close to him involved pushing them away. Jazz didn’t like the tactic, and truly thought it would stop know that they were all in on the secret. But it hadn’t. Maybe he’d opened up to Sam and Tucker. Maybe he spoke to their parents about ghosts and the hierarchy that existed among them. But Jazz felt like she was being avoided.

She was about to reach out, maybe to see if Danny would dodge her touch, when Bellefire suddenly came to a halt. Jazz yelped as she went flying over his neck and barrelled into Danny.

“What the hell?” Danny shouted, instinctively reaching out to grab Jazz and stop her from falling. Jazz clung to her brother’s arm, legs kicking out below her. If the Ghost Zone was truly infinite she could fall forever, unless some ghost’s lair decided to make itself known below her. Granted, Danny would easily be able to fly down and catch her again. But the prospect of falling for eternity was frightening nonetheless.

“Dash, a little help,” Danny said. Without waiting for a response, he drifted over to the jock and moved Jazz’s grip onto his shoulders.

“She’s _your_ sister, Fentina. You carry her.” Dash scowled. He was probably still offended by Jazz’s rejection last year.

“Sure, Dash. Do _you_ want to deal the stubborn ghost horse with ice breath?” Danny asked, waving towards Bellefire as if to say ‘he’s all yours.’

“Uh, no,” Dash answered, tilting away from the horse.

Danny smirked. “Didn’t think so.”

He flew towards Bellefire and tried to coax him forwards. Bellefire resisted, tossing his head, and stamping his hooves on the open air, somehow still producing a sound. Danny pressed a hand against the horse’s flank and tasted the emotions surrounding the horse. The amount of fear in the air made him stumble back in surprise.

Bellefire’s head swivelled, and onyx and emerald eyes met. Danny nodded in understanding, pulling his hand away. Bellefire whinnied, rearing up, and stamped back down before turning and fleeing in the direction of Danny’s lair.

“Um, little brother? I think you’re forgetting that _I can’t fly_ ,” Jazz said, sounding slightly hysterical.

“No, you can’t. Because you weren’t supposed to come, and didn’t have time to practice. You also didn’t think about how maybe, an innocent ghost might not want to go to the place where the worst criminals in the Ghost Zone live?” Danny asked accusingly. Jazz’s lip quivered, and her eyes darted from Bellefire’s receding form, to the vast nothingness below them.

“Luckily, Morgan _can_ fly.”

“Oh.” Morgan gasped in understanding, and shut off her FBR. She dropped a few inches, but remained floating. After slipping the rocket from her shoulders, and removing her backpack from the clasps, she passed it over to Jazz. Dash was forced to hold Jazz himself as she fumbled with donning the flying device. She turned the rockets on, and shot up out of Dash’s arms with a surprised squeal.

Jazz took a minute or two to get used to flying this way, accepting several helpful tips from Morgan.

“Okay. I, I’m good.” Jazz nodded, although her gaze was constantly drawn back to the space below her feet. She wasn’t going to forget her close call anytime soon.

Danny, meanwhile, felt the ache in his chest ease a little. Catching Jazz must have counted in some way as saving her, momentarily sating his obsession. As they resumed their journey, he relished the feeling, which he seemed to be getting less and less of lately. He knew how his obsession worked, and if things continued the way they were… he’d rather not think about that.

To distract himself, Danny focused on a blurred shape in the distance. When they got closer, he could see it was a chunk of purple land, scorched around the edges. What looked like a wall section floated past next, the bricks cracked and crumbling, barely held together. The debris around them continued to increase until they reached a field of floating islands. They ranged in size, some looking just big enough to hold Fenton Works, and others bigger than Casper High. Ruins were scattered across all of them, and all the building styles, or at least the one they could make out, appeared to be over a hundred years old.

“Is this it?” Sam asked when they touched down on the closest island. Danny examined the ruins, pressing his hand against the closest pile of bricks.

“I’m not sure. During his reign, Kraeva destroyed a lot of lairs. The book said those lairs became the banished lands,” Danny explained, recalling the book Dora had lent him. “This looks right, but…”

“There’s nothing to stop evil ghosts from leaving,” Sam finished.

“Exactly. It’s not much of a prison.”

“Maybe there’s more?” Jazz asked. She walked across a rotting board, something that could have once been a door, and crossed the line of the bricks. “Uh, Danny?”

“What?” Danny asked sharply, his annoyance at his sister sinking into his words. Sam pinched him for it.

“Ow,” Danny whined and rubbed his arm, although he’d barely felt it. Sam rolled her eyes and ushered him forwards, and they both crossed the threshold.

“Whoa,” Sam said. On the other side of the doorway the room was perfectly intact. The walls were bare stone, and the floor was dirt. There were not furnishings or light fixtures, but the room was adequately lit anyways. Directly across from them, purple ectoplasmic scorch marks left a message for all who entered.

_Welcome to the Tomb._


	9. First Attack

“That’s creepy,” Jazz said, staring at the welcome message. Sam nodded in agreement.

“Dash, Morgan, come in here,” Danny called. A few seconds later, Morgan was hovering over his shoulder, and Dash was standing just behind them.

“That’s creepy,” the jock and outcast repeated in chorus. Jazz and Sam nodded.

“Is that ghost blood?” Dash asked.

“No. It’s ectoplasmic residue from an ectoblast, or something similar. It’s a ghost burn, that’s why it’s green,” Danny explained. He walked up to the wall and examined the letters. They weren’t faded, so they had to be recent. He pressed a hand against the stone and felt how warm it was. The message was _very_ recent. “Someone knows we were coming. We shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.”

There was another doorway to their left, a narrow arch with a ghastly figure etched into the stone above. Danny marched through it and glanced around. The buildings and islands that had been smashed and burned before were now whole. The slabs of land floated close together, enough so that they wouldn’t need to fly from on to another. Danny stepped into the air, intent on flying up to get a new view of their surroundings. He’d barely risen three feet when his body started to feel heavy. Danny dipped, wavering, and frowned in confusion. He flew up higher, and grew heavier still. By the time he reached roof level, he was struggling to push himself into the air, and suddenly it was like something was slammed into his back and he was shoved back to the ground.

Danny groaned and lifted his head, rubbing his chin.

“Danny! Are you okay?” Sam asked, running up beside him.

“Absolutely peachy,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry,” Sam mumbled, realizing the question was a little ridiculous given his standard situation.

“It’s okay. Standard question, right?” Danny smirked. He couldn’t remember how many times Dora said that to him when he visited her after a fight. “Morgan, can you fly?”

The blue-haired girl floated through the archway, and the moment her whole body had passed, she dropped to the ground. Morgan shook her head, “Nope.”

Danny pushed himself up and floated several inches above the ground. As long as he didn’t go any higher, he didn’t feel any added weight. He tried to pass through the closest solid object, but couldn’t do it.

“Phasing and flight don’t work,” Danny announced. He focused on his palm, concentrating his ghostly energy. Sparks danced across his fingers and the temperature around him dropped, but no ectoplasm. “Basic ghost powers don’t work here. It looks like my specialty ones do probably because they’re a lot stronger. How are the FBRs?”

“Totally busted, Fenton. These things are useless.” Dash held his FBR away from him, the rockets sputtering and whining. Danny quickly snatched it out of the jock’s hands and shut it off.

“It’s like Dora’s castle, electronics don’t work here. No ghost powers, and no power in general. I guess that’s how they keep criminals contained,” Danny mused, looking around.

“But there’s nothing to stop them from just walking out.” Jazz frowned, glancing towards the arch.

“For now, that’s not our problem. We need to find the yetis, and without flight, that means we’re walking.”

“But what way?”

Danny once again took stock of their surroundings. Closer to the arch the islands were smaller, and they appeared to float higher and higher until the massive slab of land that seemed to hold an entire city. It was a decent ways off, and probably the heart of the banished lands.

“We need to get there,” Danny said. Even if the yetis weren’t held there, the added height would give them a better view. “It’ll probably take us a day or two to get there. Keep the FBRs. Whatever is shorting them out could fail, and if you fall, you’ll need them to save you.”

“Then lead on, little brother,” Jazz prompted. Danny didn’t glare at her this time, but he swiftly floated by without saying anything. Jazz cast her eyes downwards and shuffled her feet as the others walked by. Sam gave her a reassuring shoulder pat, then jogged to catch up to Danny.

“You’re being an idiot,” Sam scolded in a sing-song voice.

Danny groaned, guilt and frustration flooding his expression. He glanced at Sam, expecting to face a stern glare. Instead she was watching him with worry. He sighed and gave in. “I just, I didn’t want her to come.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m stronger than her!” Danny almost shouted. He glanced back, making sure the others hadn’t heard him. “I’m stronger than her. I faced stuff like this on my own all the time. Undergrowth, Vortex, Pariah Dark. But she’s… she’s Jazz, and she takes being the big sister so seriously. She’s going to do something stupid, thinking she’s defending me when I don’t need it, and it’s just going to get her hurt!”

Sam was silent as they reached the edge of the first island, hopping over the gap. The new island bobbed a bit when she landed before settling. Despite the gap between the two chunks of lands being only two feet wide, with just a slight height difference, Danny still hovered close by as Morgan, Dash, and Jazz jumped across it, though pretended that wasn’t exactly what he was doing. They moved on, and Sam once again settled into place beside Danny.

“Hayden,” she whispered, and Danny stiffened, his step faltering. “You think something like that could happen again.”

“I don’t want it to happen again,” Danny muttered. “But it wasn’t just Hayden! Did you know that Vlad killed someone?”

“What?”

“When he was shutting off the ghost shield. Everyone was gathered in the auditorium, and he was in the rafters. He took the cover off the generator and just tossed it down. It his someone in the head. They could have been fine, but then everyone was put to sleep, and they didn’t get any help. They never woke up,” Danny spoke somberly. He wasn’t sure how many people new about that. In the aftermath of the battle, there was so much chaos. People needed treatment, buildings needed to be destroyed. No one, except for those involved, notice there was another funeral besides Hayden’s.

“And then with Dani… Next time I see Vlad, he’s going to regret everything,” Sam seethed.

“You can’t. Vlad is gone, I – he left. He’s not coming back,” Danny stumbled over his explanation. He couldn’t tell anyone what he did.

“He better never show his face again.”

“He won’t.” There were several more minutes of silence.

“You should tell Jazz why you didn’t want her to come. I know you’re mad at her, but she believes you think she’s just getting in the way.”

“I mean, technically?” Danny shrugged, then smirked.

Sam punched his shoulder and grinned back. “Just tell her. Or else _I’ll_ tell her the _real_ reason she had to get a new Bearbert Einstein when she was nine.”

“You wouldn’t!” Danny gasped.

“I will.”

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re blackmailing me. I mean, I can, but _wow_. Bad girlfriend,” Danny teased.

“Oh, shut it ghost boy, I have a Fenton Thermos in here. I’m sure it works on halfas just as well as humans.”

“It does, it really does,” Danny said in a horrified whisper. That had been a horrible three day experience. Sam gave him a questioning glance, and Danny just shook his head, conveying that it was a story for another time. He focused on the path ahead, and his eyes slowly narrowed. Sam, sensing his unease, fell silent and glanced back at the others.

Morgan looked to be her normal brooding/happy self. She’d been unusually cheerful the past couple of days, probably the excitement of entering the Ghost Zone, but her collision earlier seemed to have soured her mood. Or at least brought it down to its normal temperament. The ominous atmosphere probably helped.

Jazz looked like she was mentally logging everything she saw, to add to her memoire as soon as they returned.

And Dash, was Dash. Feigning confidence, and flinching at every little sound. Sam rolled her eyes and looked forwards again, faltering when she saw a pair of beady eyes peering at her from an empty window.

“Danny.” She grabbed Danny’s sleeve, directing his attention at the ghostly eyes. They were dark purple, with wavering white dots in the place of an iris or purple.

“I know,” Danny muttered and quickly diverted his gaze. “There are lots of ghosts here, I could feel them as soon as we went through the arch.”

Sam nodded slowly. If Danny wasn’t worried, then she had no reason to be either, and as long as the jumpy idiot behind them remained unaware, everything should be okay. But apparently Sam spoke to soon.

“What’s that?!” Dash squeaked, pointing at the eyes. There was a sharp hissing sound, and the eyes disappeared.

“Get down!” Danny shouted. He shoved Dash out of the way and pulled Jazz with him, relying on the other girls to move on their own, as a spear of shadows drove through the middle of their group. Danny watched it soar by. “Johnny’s Shadow?”

The dark spike swerved back and split apart, one zooming towards the boys and Jazz, and the other in Sam and Morgan’s direction, driving the two pairs further apart. An ice-blast formed in Danny’s palm, and he tossed it at the approaching shadow. It passed harmlessly through it.

“Great, ice doesn’t work,” Danny groaned. He ducked as the jagged darkness soared over his shoulder, nicking the halfa’s ear.

“Fenton! Do something!” Dash cried, scrambling back and narrowly avoiding behind sliced himself.

“I’m trying!” Danny shot back, frustrated with the jock. Sparks danced across Danny’s fingers, and he directed them at a nearby bush. It caught fire immediately, pale green flames consuming the dead plant. Danny spun and kicked the burning bushel in the shadows direction. It may not have been Johnny Thirteen’s minion, but it function just the same. The shadow spear shrieked and shrunk back, shying away from the flames and light, and angle downwards sharply, stabbing the dirt and disappearing through the crack. Danny stood on guard, breathing slowly, and watching the break in the ground. The small island they occupied bucked, and Danny and Dash stumbled into each other.

The crack the shadow had made grew, and the ground began to crumble.

“Dash, move!” Danny commanded, dragging the bulkier boy with him as he ran. Jazz didn’t need telling and took off after them. Dash, despite knowing Danny was much stronger than him for quite some time, never failed to be surprised when the halfa did something that proved his strength. Such as practically carrying Dash away as they ran from the quickly approaching island edge.

“Fentooooon!” Dash shouted, pointing at the crumbling dirt, even though Danny couldn’t actually see it.

“Yeah, yeah!” Danny shouted. He slid, literally, around a corner, leaving glowing green tracks that faded after a moment. He felt increasingly thankful that quite a few of his more useful powers, like his back slide, were technically specialized and not restricted here.

“Hold on, Dash!” Danny shouted, dragging the jock onto his back. He grabbed Jazz’s hand, bent his knees, and launched himself upwards to the next island. They crashed to the ground as whatever mystical power took hold here forced Danny back to the ground, and the rolled away from each other. Danny quickly shot back to his feet, while Dash groaned and rubbed his head, slowly crawling back to the edge of the island. Jazz sat up and rolled her shoulder, which had been wrenched uncomfortably when Danny pulled her up, as she joined them.. The chunk of land they’d previously occupied was completely gone now.

Danny had no clue what happened to Sam and Morgan, but he couldn’t see anyone falling, and the way the divided shadow seemed to float dejectedly in the now empty space was proof enough for him. The shadow reformed into one being, whatever that was, and Danny felt like it was watching him before it started to fly closer again.

“Does nothing get rid of this thing?” Dash whined.

“I know something that will.” Danny crouched on the island precipice, bringing his arms close to his chest and focused on his core. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, picturing his transformation rings. Dash started to tug nervously at Danny’s jumpsuit, signalling the shadow ghost was a lot closer now. Danny waited until he could sense the thing a few feet away from him before releasing the building power.

A bright ring spread from his core and split up and down his body, growing larger as it went, and releasing a bright flash of light. The shadow ghost squealed pitifully and sizzled, burning out of existence. For now at least. Danny opened his eyes and saw a trail of smoke where there enemy had been flying moments ago. But it would recover eventually.

“A repulsion field would have worked better,” Danny muttered to himself.

“Fentur – uh, Fenton, what was that? How come you’re still a ghost,” Dash asked, quickly recovering from his fright.

“Because those weren’t transformation rings, it was an aural projection,” Danny explained. “It doesn’t use ectoplasm, not in a raw form at least, and releases makes a pretty bright light. Although that’s not its purpose.”

“And what’s a repulsion field?” Jazz asked, painfully aware of how little her brother shared with her when it came to his powers.

“Something similar, but more powerful, using ectoplasm. Light projection would have been better than both of them, but that needs ectoplasm too.”

“But if that, auro project or whatever is powerful, _and_ you can still use it, why would a stupid little light projection be better?” Dash frowned with a puzzled look in his eyes.

“Because _aural projection_ has a downside.” Danny stumbled suddenly, pressing a hand to his forehead. “It really… takes up too much energy.”

Danny stumbled again and dropped to his knees before collapsing. Jazz rushed towards him in worry and Dash followed. Despite how much he picked on Fenton, that loser was the only way he’d make it out of this place alive. Plus he was a hero, Dash couldn’t let something actually bad happen to him. But for now it looked like the halfa had passed out.

…

“Guns!” Morgan shouted, pulling her backpack from her shoulders as she ran. Sam, who already had an ecto-blaster in her hands, and shot over her shoulder. She looked back to see the ectoplasmic bullet do no harm.

“Damn it,” Sam hissed.

Morgan fished her own blaster out of her bag and planted her feet, spinning around to face what was chasing them. Just as she set her finger on the trigger, Sam grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her down, making Morgan’s shot go wild as the shadow spear twisted down to follow her. Sam pushed Morgan away and rolled in the opposite direction.

“What the hell, Manson! I haven’t gotten a chance to shoot my gun in a week, I was looking forward to that!” Morgan protested.

“It’s like the unlucky guy’s shadow! Guns won’t hurt it!” Sam explained.

“Of course.” Morgan rolled her eyes in frustration. Both girls leapt to their feet and stood back to back, looking around.

“Where did it go?” Sam asked.

“No idea.”

“Wanna just run before it comes back?”

“Good idea.”

They fixed the position of their backpacks and started running again, wordlessly looping around to go back to where the attack happened. They needed to find the others. Instead the shadow ghost, or the half that pursued them at least, found them again. It burst through the ground and hovered threateningly before them, despite its shapeless form.

“Come on!” The girls groaned, halting in their tracks and backpedalling away from it.

“This sucks,” Morgan grumbled, then stumbled as the whole island seemed to shake.

“But that sucks worse.” Sam pointed to the growing whole where the shadow had emerged from.

“This way!” Morgan grabbed Sam’s sleeve and tugged her between two old buildings. There was a new piece of land not too far from them. Sam, being the more athletic one, quickly pulled ahead. She crouched and laced her fingers together, providing a step for Morgan. The outcast took it and scrambled up as fast as she could, then pulled Sam up behind her.

“And the ghost?” Morgan asked as the spectral entity in question appeared again.

“I think I’ve got something.” Sam rummaged through her bag. She pulled out a flashlight, whipped around, and shined it at the shadow. It hissed and dissipated. The girls quickly retreated towards the center of their new island, listening to the last of the other fall away.

“That was… anticlimactic,” Morgan complained.

“Not everything is going to end in a three-sided war,” Sam pointed out with a smirk.

Morgan grinned and chuckled. “I guess not, but that was still too easy. It didn’t phase through anything, and did you really beat it with a flashlight?”

“It was only half the ghost, remember? And I think it wasn’t even as strong as the other. I didn’t get a good look, but the one that went after the others seemed bigger.” Sam frowned.

“Probably for Danny.” Morgan shrugged. “How are we going to find them? How do we even know if they’re fine?”

Sam stopped walking and looked back the way they’d come. “Danny’s okay. We should just keep going, they’ll meet us at the big island. Highest point.”

“How the hell do you know that?” Morgan asked, looking mystified and impressed.

“I just know.” Sam shook her head, and it was true. Sometimes she just _knew_ things when it came to Danny, or they said the same thing at the same time. People often attributed it to their long friendship. But Sam could tell it was something different, something meaningful.

“Maybe you lovebirds are telepathic,” Morgan joked.

“We’re not love –” Sam started to protest, purely on instinct, then faltered and blushed.

“Yeah.” Morgan grinned. “Totally lovebirds.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story is incomplete and will remain so. I am rewriting the series, and if you would like to read it, please go to Phantom Origins.


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